Minä nautin aamupalasta keittiössä.

I enjoy breakfast in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Minä nautin aamupalasta keittiössä.

• minä: I
• -ssa: in
• keittiö: the kitchen
• aamupala: the breakfast
• nauttia: to enjoy

Questions & Answers about Minä nautin aamupalasta keittiössä.

What does nautin mean here? What’s its base form, and how is it conjugated?

nautin is the first person singular present tense of the verb nauttia, which means “to enjoy.”
Base form: nauttia
Conjugation (present tense):

• minä nautin
• sinä nautit
• hän nauttii
  …etc.

Why is the object aamupalasta in the elative case (-sta) and not in the partitive case (-a)?

The verb nauttia requires the pattern nauttia jostakin (“to enjoy something”), so the noun takes the elative case -sta/-stä, not the partitive.

• aamupala (breakfast) becomes aamupalasta (“from breakfast” / “of breakfast”).

What case is keittiössä, and why is it used here?

keittiössä is the inessive case, marked -ssa/-ssä, which expresses location “in”.

• keittiö (kitchen) → keittiössä (“in the kitchen”).

Do I have to include the subject minä every time in Finnish?

No. Finnish verbs encode the subject, so pronouns are optional.

• You can omit minä unless you want emphasis:
  
  • Nautin aamupalasta keittiössä. (standard)
  • Minä nautin aamupalasta keittiössä. (adds emphasis on “I”)

Can the word order in this sentence change?

Yes. Finnish has a flexible word order; you move parts to the front for emphasis:

• Keittiössä nautin aamupalasta. (emphasizes the location)
• Aamupalasta nautin keittiössä. (less common, but grammatically OK)

How would you say “She enjoys breakfast in the kitchen” in Finnish?

Use the third person form nauttii and the pronoun hän (she/he):
Hän nauttii aamupalasta keittiössä.

What would be the literal (word-for-word) translation?

Literally:
I – enjoy – from breakfast – in the kitchen.
Natural English: “I enjoy breakfast in the kitchen.”