Ravintola on vilkas joka ilta.

The restaurant is busy every evening.

Breakdown of Ravintola on vilkas joka ilta.

• olla: to be
• ravintola: the restaurant
• joka ilta: every evening
• vilkas: busy

Questions & Answers about Ravintola on vilkas joka ilta.

Why is there no article before ravintola?

Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles (no direct equivalents of “the” or “a”). You simply use the noun by itself, and context tells you whether it’s specific or general.

What case is ravintola in, and why?

It’s in the nominative singular, because it’s the grammatical subject of the sentence. In Finnish, the subject of a finite verb normally appears in the nominative case.

What part of speech is vilkas, and why does it end with -as?

vilkas is an adjective used predicatively (it describes the subject via the verb olla). It ends in -as because that is the adjective’s nominative singular ending, matching the number and case of its subject.

Why is the verb on used here instead of ovat?

on is the third person singular form of olla (“to be”). Since ravintola is singular, you use on. You would use ovat only if the subject were plural (e.g. ravintolat ovat).

Finnish has no grammatical gender—how come adjectives agree?

Adjectives in Finnish agree with the noun only in number and case, not gender. Since Finnish doesn’t mark gender, there’s no adjective ending to reflect it—only singular vs. plural and the case (here, nominative).

Why is joka ilta placed at the end? Could it go elsewhere?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible. joka ilta is a temporal adverbial (“every evening”) and can appear in various positions:

• Ravintola on vilkas joka ilta.
• Joka ilta, ravintola on vilkas.
• Ravintola on joka ilta vilkas.
  All are grammatically correct, though the first is most neutral.

What case is joka ilta, and why not joka iltana or jokaisena iltana?

Here joka ilta is nominative singular, used to express frequency (every evening). If you switch to the inessive case, you get jokaisena iltana (“on each evening”), which is also correct but slightly more formal or emphatic:

• Ravintola on vilkas jokaisena iltana.

What’s the difference between joka ilta and iltaisin?

• joka ilta = “every evening” (literally).
• iltaisin = “in the evenings” (habitual adverbial form).
  You could say Ravintola on vilkas iltaisin, which has the same general meaning but sounds a bit more idiomatic for recurring events.

Can you drop on and say “Ravintola vilkas joka ilta”?

No, standard Finnish requires the copula olla when linking a subject to a predicative adjective. Omitting on would sound like a telegraphic note, not a correct full sentence.

How do you form a question: “Is the restaurant busy every evening?”

Invert the verb and subject, and add the question intonation. Use onko (the interrogative form of olla):

• Onko ravintola vilkas joka ilta?

How is joka pronounced, and where is the stress?

• j is pronounced like English y in “yes.”
• Finnish primary stress is always on the first syllable of each word: • JO-ka
  • IL-ta

Could you say “Ravintola on vilkas illalla” instead?

You can say Ravintola on vilkas illalla, but that means “The restaurant is busy in the evening” (one evening or evenings in general) rather than emphasizing “every single evening.” If you want habitual sense without joka, use iltaisin.