Learn Hardcore Finnish: Astianpesukone on päällä, joten astiat eivät ole vielä kuivia. - The dishwasher is on, so the dishes are not dry yet.

In this sentence, olla päällä is an idiom meaning “to be on / switched on, running.” Literally, päällä is the adessive form of pää “top/surface,” and in physical location you’d say jonkin päällä “on top of something” (e.g., Kirja on pöydän päällä “The book is on the table”). But with devices, olla päällä means “to be on.”

Device state: Astianpesukone on päällä = the dishwasher is on (running).
Physical location: Kirja on pöydän päällä = the book is on top of the table.

How do I say the machine is “off”?

Common ways:

Astianpesukone on pois päältä. = The dishwasher is off.
Astianpesukone on kiinni. = Also used colloquially for “off.”
For lights: Valot ovat sammuksissa. = The lights are off (extinguished). Opposite of the idiom olla päällä is often olla pois päältä.

Why is kuivia used instead of kuivat?

With a plural subject and a predicate adjective, Finnish often uses the partitive plural for neutral description, especially with gradable qualities (like dryness). So:

Astiat eivät ole vielä kuivia feels like the default, “the dishes aren’t (fully) dry yet.”

The nominative plural kuivat also exists (see next question), but in neutral descriptive statements (and their negation), the partitive plural is very common.

Can I say Astiat eivät ole vielä kuivat? What’s the nuance vs. kuivia?

Yes, it’s possible. Roughly:

… eivät ole vielä kuivia (partitive plural): neutral description; the items individually aren’t dry yet (the usual choice).
… eivät ole vielä kuivat (nominative plural): more categorical/contrastive; often heard as “not (all) completely dry yet” or “they aren’t in the dry state yet (as a set).”

Affirmatively, both are also possible:

Astiat ovat kuivia. neutral description.
Astiat ovat kuivat. more categorical; emphasizes the whole set is (now) dry.

Context often determines which sounds more natural.

Is kuivia partitive because of negation or because of vielä?

Neither one mechanically “forces” it. With plural predicative adjectives, the partitive is simply very common in neutral statements (and their negations), and it suits gradable properties. Vielä (“yet/still”) does not control the case; it just adds the time-aspect “not yet.”

Why is it eivät ole and not ei ole?

Finnish negation uses a conjugated negative verb:

Singular 3rd person: ei (e.g., se ei ole)
Plural 3rd person: eivät (e.g., astiat eivät ole)

Here the subject astiat is plural, so the negation is eivät, and the main verb appears in its connegative form ole.

Where can vielä go? Is the placement flexible?

Yes. All of these are fine, with small emphasis differences:

Astiat eivät ole vielä kuivia. neutral.
Astiat eivät vielä ole kuivia. stronger focus on “not yet.”
Vielä astiat eivät ole kuivia. topicalizes “yet” (more contrastive/formal).

You can also place it earlier: Astianpesukone on vielä päällä…

What’s the difference between joten and koska?

joten = “so/therefore” (result). It introduces the consequence.
- Example structure: Cause, joten Result.
koska = “because” (reason). It introduces the cause.
- Example structure: Koska Cause, Result.

Your sentence presents the cause first and marks the result with joten. You could flip it with koska: Koska astianpesukone on päällä, astiat eivät…

Do I need a comma before joten?

Yes. Joten is a coordinating conjunction linking two independent clauses, and Finnish punctuation places a comma before it:

…, joten …

Why is it astiat and not astioita?

Astiat is the nominative plural subject (“the dishes” as a known/identifiable set). Astioita is partitive plural, used for indefinite quantity or in existential-type sentences:

Subject as a known set: Astiat eivät ole vielä kuivia.
Indefinite existence: Tiskialtaassa on astioita. (“There are dishes in the sink.”)

How is the compound astianpesukone built?

It’s a three-part compound:

astia “dish, vessel” → genitive linker astian
pesu “wash(ing)”
kone “machine” Together: astian-pesu-kone → “dish-wash-machine.” The genitive -n is a common linking element in Finnish compounds.

Is there a more colloquial word than astianpesukone?

Yes, tiskikone is very common in everyday speech. Both are widely understood:

Neutral/standard: astianpesukone
Colloquial/common: tiskikone

Could I say Astiat eivät ole vielä kuivuneet? How does that differ from … eivät ole vielä kuivia?

Yes:

… eivät ole vielä kuivia uses a predicate adjective, describing the current state: they aren’t (fully) dry yet.
… eivät ole vielä kuivuneet uses the perfect of the verb kuivua “to dry,” focusing on the process/result: they haven’t (yet) finished drying.

Both are natural; choose the one that matches whether you want to talk about state (adjective) or completion of the process (verb).