Learn Hardcore Finnish: Illalla vietämme hetken harjoituksen jälkeen uudessa rakennuksessa katsellen kaupunkia. - In the evening we spend a moment after the exercise in the new building watching the city.

Illalla means “in the evening.” It’s formed by adding the inessive ending -lla to ilta (“evening”), turning it into an adverbial time expression that literally means “during the evening.”

Why is hetken in the partitive case, and how does it relate to vietämme?

Hetken is the partitive singular of hetki (“moment”). The partitive case is used to express an indefinite or partial amount—here, a short duration of time. The verb viettää (“to spend [time]”) requires its time-object in the partitive, so vietämme hetken = “we spend a moment.”

What case and construction do we see in harjoituksen jälkeen, and what does it indicate?

Harjoituksen is the genitive form of harjoitus (“practice”), and jälkeen is a postposition meaning “after.” Finnish temporal postpositions like jälkeen demand the preceding noun in the genitive. Combined, harjoituksen jälkeen means “after practice.”

Why are both uusi and rakennus in the inessive case in uudessa rakennuksessa?

The inessive case (-ssa/-ssä) expresses “inside” or “within.” To say “in the new building,” you put both the adjective uusi (“new”) and the noun rakennus (“building”) into the inessive, yielding uudessa rakennuksessa.

What is katsellen, and why is it used instead of a full subordinate clause?

Katsellen is the present active participle of katsella (“to watch / look at”). As an adverbial participle ending in -en, it indicates a simultaneous action: “while watching.” This lets you link it directly to the main verb without introducing a separate “while” clause.

Why is kaupunkia in the partitive case after katsellen?

The verb katsella takes its object in the partitive. Using the partitive (kaupunkia) also suggests an ongoing or non-exhaustive action—“looking at the city” in a general sense, not surveying every detail.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, and can elements be moved for emphasis?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible but often follows: Time – Subject – Object – Place – Manner – Verb. Here:
• Illalla (time)
• vietämme hetken (subject + duration/object)
• uudessa rakennuksessa (place)
• katsellen kaupunkia (manner)
You can shuffle these parts (e.g., moving uudessa rakennuksessa earlier) to highlight different elements, though this is the neutral sequence.