Learn Hardcore Finnish: Haluan varata pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle. - I want to reserve a table for eight people.

In Finnish, personal pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already indicates the subject. In haluan, the -n ending tells you it's first person singular. You could say Minä haluan varata pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle, but it's more natural to drop minä.

Why is the verb varata in its infinitive form, rather than a conjugated form like varaan?

With verbs of desire such as haluta ("to want"), you follow them with the -ta/-tä infinitive of another verb. The pattern is:
haluta + verbi + -infinitiivi
So haluan varata literally means "I want to reserve." If you said varaan, you'd be stating "I reserve," which doesn't fit the "want to …" construction.

What case is pöydän, and why does it end in -n?

Pöydän is in the genitive case. In Finnish, when you perform a complete action on a specific object (a telic action), you generally put that object in the genitive. Here you reserve one whole table (pöytä → pöydän = "the table"), so it takes the genitive.

Why isn't it pöytää (the partitive form)?

The partitive expresses incomplete, ongoing, or indefinite actions. Reserving a table is a completed, definite action—you book exactly one full table—so you use the genitive (pöydän), not the partitive (pöytää).

What case is kahdeksalle, and why isn't it simply kahdeksan?

Kahdeksalle is the allative case (marked by -lle), which here means "for eight." It indicates the beneficiary or target of the reservation ("for eight people"). The base form kahdeksan is just the numeral "eight" and doesn’t show "for whom."

Why does ihmiselle also take the -lle ending? Aren’t cases applied only to nouns, not numbers?

In Finnish, when you apply a case to a counted expression, both the numeral and the noun receive the case. Hence kahdeksalle (the numeral) and ihmiselle (the noun) both take -lle to mean "for eight people."

Can I omit ihmiselle and just say kahdeksalle?

You can if context makes it obvious, but it sounds a bit incomplete. Kahdeksalle alone means "for eight," so you usually add ihmiselle, henkilölle, etc., to clarify what "eight" refers to.

Could I use henkilölle instead of ihmiselle?

Yes. Kahdeksalle henkilölle ("for eight persons") is a more formal or neutral phrasing, while ihmiselle is everyday language. Both are correct.

Can I change the word order in this sentence?

Absolutely. Finnish word order is flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:
• Haluan varata pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle.
• Haluan varata kahdeksalle ihmiselle pöydän.
• Kahdeksalle ihmiselle haluan varata pöydän.

Could I also say varaan pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle instead of haluan varata pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle?

Yes. Varaan pöydän kahdeksalle ihmiselle means "I'm reserving (or will reserve) a table for eight people." It’s more direct, while Haluan varata… (“I want to reserve…”) is slightly softer or more polite.