Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minä haluan katsella elokuvaa kotona.

In Finnish, subject pronouns like minä (“I”) are optional because the verb form haluan already shows first person singular. You can safely drop Minä without changing the meaning or making the sentence ungrammatical. Including minä only adds emphasis or clarity.

What does haluan mean and how do you form it?

Haluan means “I want.” It’s the 1st person singular present tense of haluta (“to want”). To form it, remove the infinitive ending -ta from haluta to get the stem halu-, then add -n:
haluta → halu- + ‑n = haluan

Why is the verb katsella used in its basic form instead of a conjugated form?

In Finnish, verbs like haluta (“to want”) are followed by the first infinitive (the dictionary form ending in -a or -ä) to express “want to do something.” So haluan katsella literally means “I want to watch,” with katsella left in its infinitive.

What’s the difference between katsoa and katsella?

Both verbs mean “to watch,” but with a nuance:

katsoa is more momentary or neutral (“to look at/watch”).
katsella (with -lla) gives a sense of a prolonged, exploratory, or repeated action (“to spend time watching”).
In everyday speech they often overlap, but katsella is common when talking about watching something over a period, like a film.

Why is elokuvaa in the partitive case?

Finnish uses the partitive case (suffix -a/-ä) for objects of verbs that denote ongoing or incomplete actions (such as katsella, “to watch”) or when you speak of an indefinite quantity. Here, elokuvaa (“a movie/some movie”) indicates you’re watching it (perhaps not to the very end), fitting the partitive use.

Could you use elokuva (nominative) or elokuvan (genitive) instead of elokuvaa?

elokuva (nominative) cannot serve as a proper object in this context.
elokuvan (genitive) can mark a complete action (“to watch the entire movie”), but after haluta
- infinitive Finnish normally uses the partitive. If you really want to stress finishing the film you could say haluan katsoa elokuvan, but the standard pattern is katsella elokuvaa.

What does kotona mean and why the -na ending?

Kotona is the inessive case of koti (“home”), meaning “at home.” The suffix -na marks a static location or state. So kotona = “while/being at home.”

Why not use kotiin instead of kotona?

Kotiin is the allative case, meaning “to home” (movement toward home). Since you’re already at home where the watching happens, you need the inessive kotona (“at home”), not the allative kotiin.

Can the word order be changed in Minä haluan katsella elokuvaa kotona?

Yes. Finnish word order is quite flexible. For example:

Kotona haluan katsella elokuvaa (emphasizes “at home”)
Haluan kotona katsella elokuvaa (slightly shifts focus to the location)
The basic meaning remains the same; only the emphasis moves.

How would I say “I would like to watch a movie at home” more politely?

Use the conditional form haluaisin (“I would like”):
Minä haluaisin katsella elokuvaa kotona.
This softens the statement or request to “I would like to watch a movie at home.”