Breakdown of Minä juon kahvia puistossa kesäiltana.
minä
I
kahvi
the coffee
juoda
to drink
puisto
the park
-ssa
in
kesäiltana
on a summer evening
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Questions & Answers about Minä juon kahvia puistossa kesäiltana.
Why is Minä included when Finnish often omits the subject pronoun?
Finnish verbs are inflected for person, so the pronoun is optional. Including Minä emphasises that I am the one performing the action or clarifies who is acting. You can also say Juon kahvia puistossa kesäiltana without Minä, and the subject “I” is understood from the -n ending on juon.
What does juon mean and how is it formed?
juon is the first person singular present tense of juoda (to drink). You take the verb stem juo- and add the personal ending -n, giving juo + n = juon, meaning “I drink” or “I am drinking.”
Why is kahvia in the partitive case instead of the nominative?
The partitive case (ending -a/-ä, here kahvia) marks an indefinite, unbounded, or ongoing quantity—“some coffee.” After verbs denoting incomplete or ongoing actions (like drinking), Finnish uses the partitive object rather than the full (nominative) object.
What case is puistossa, and why is it used here?
puistossa is the inessive case (ending -ssa/-ssä), indicating a static location—“in the park.” It answers the question where? (missä?).
What about kesäiltana? Which case is this, and what does it express?
kesäiltana is in the essive case (ending -na/-nä) used for temporal expressions. It answers when? (milloin?) and here means “on a summer evening.”
Is the word order fixed in Finnish? Could I say Kesäiltana juon kahvia puistossa?
Finnish has fairly free word order. Yes—Kesäiltana juon kahvia puistossa is perfectly correct. Reordering elements shifts the emphasis (e.g. starting with Kesäiltana highlights the time).
Why is it puistossa and not puistoon? What’s the difference?
puistossa (inessive) means “in the park” (static location). puistoon (illative, ending -oon/ -en) means “into the park” (movement toward). Since you’re already in the park drinking coffee, the inessive puistossa is appropriate.
I notice there’s no article like “a” or “the.” How do you express definiteness in Finnish?
Finnish does not have articles. Definiteness or indefiniteness is conveyed by context, word order, and case. Here, the partitive kahvia implies “some coffee,” while adding a demonstrative like se kahvi (“that coffee”) makes it definite.