Minä rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

I am building a new table on the balcony.

Breakdown of Minä rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

• minä: I
• uusi: new
• pöytä: the table
• -lla: on
• parveke: the balcony
• rakentaa: to build

Questions & Answers about Minä rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

Why do we have Minä in the sentence? Can it be left out?

Finnish verb forms already show who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is often optional.

• Minä rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.
• Rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

Both mean "I am building / I will build a new table on the balcony."

Use Minä:

• for emphasis (Minä rakennan, en sinä – "I am building it, not you")
• or in very clear, slow, or beginner-friendly speech.

In normal conversation, you’ll hear the version without Minä a lot.

Why is the verb rakennan and not rakentaa?

Rakentaa is the infinitive ("to build").
Rakennan is the 1st person singular present tense ("I build / I am building").

Conjugation (present tense) of rakentaa:

• minä rakennan – I build
• sinä rakennat – you build
• hän rakentaa – he/she builds
• me rakennamme – we build
• te rakennatte – you (pl) build
• he rakentavat – they build

So rakennan is the correct form with minä.

Does rakennan mean “I build” or “I am building” or “I will build”?

All of them, depending on context.

Finnish has no separate continuous or future tense. The present tense is used for:

• general/habitual:
  Rakennan usein pöytiä. – I often build tables.
• happening now:
  (Minä) rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella. – I am building a new table on the balcony.
• future:
  Huomenna rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella. – Tomorrow I will build a new table on the balcony.

The time is usually clear from context or from time expressions like huomenna, ensi viikolla, etc.

Why is it uuden pöydän, not uusi pöytä?

Because uusi pöytä is in the nominative case (“a new table” as a subject or basic form), but here “new table” is the object of the verb “build”.

With a complete object (you build the entire table, not just partly), Finnish uses the -n object form (often called accusative or genitive form) in the singular:

• nominative: uusi pöytä – a new table (subject)
• object form: uuden pöydän – (I build) a new table

Both the adjective and the noun change:

• uusi → uuden
• pöytä → pöydän

Adjectives describing a noun must match its case and number, so the whole phrase becomes uuden pöydän.

What case is pöydän here, and why that case?

Pöydän is in the singular total object form, which looks like the genitive (-n) in the singular.

You use this -n form when:

• the object is a whole, complete thing
• and the event is seen as complete or bounded

Minä rakennan uuden pöydän.
→ I (will) build one whole, new table.

If you wanted to emphasize an ongoing, incomplete process, you’d use the partitive:

• Minä rakennan uutta pöytää. – I am (in the middle of) building a new table. (not finished, process-focused)

So in the original sentence, pöydän suggests a whole table as the intended result.

Why does pöytä become pöydän? Where does the d come from?

This is Finnish consonant gradation and stem alternation.

• basic form (nominative): pöytä
• stem used in many other cases: pöydä-
• add -n ending → pöydän

The t in pöytä changes to d in the stem pöydä-. This t ↔ d alternation is very common in Finnish (part of KPT-gradation):

• katu → kadun (street → of the street)
• pata → padan (pot → of the pot)
• pöytä → pöydän (table → of the table / as total object)

Why does uusi become uuden?

Uusi has a slightly irregular-looking stem: uude-.

• basic form: uusi – new
• stem: uude-
• object/genitive singular: uude-
  • -n → uuden

So it is:

• uusi pöytä – a new table (nominative)
• uuden pöydän – a new table (object form, matching pöydän)

You’ll see uuden in many contexts, e.g.:

• uuden auton omistaja – owner of the new car
• pidän uudesta elokuvasta – I like the new movie

What does the ending -lla in parvekkeella mean?

-lla / -llä is the adessive case ending. One of its main uses is to express “on” or “at” a surface or place.

• parveke – balcony
• parvekkeella – on the balcony / at the balcony

Other examples:

• pöytä → pöydällä – on the table
• asemalla – at the station
• pihalla – in the yard / out in the yard

So Finnish uses case endings instead of a separate preposition like English “on”.

What is the difference between parvekkeella and parvekkeessa?

They are two different cases:

• parvekkeella – adessive (-lla/-llä): typically “on” the balcony, at the balcony, on top of / on the surface.
• parvekkeessa – inessive (-ssa/-ssä): “in” the balcony, inside an enclosed balcony space.

In practice, if you mean you are out on the balcony area, you usually say:

• Olen parvekkeella. – I am on the balcony.

You’d use parvekkeessa if you think of it more like being inside a glassed-in balcony space, but parvekkeella is much more common.

Could the word order be different, like Parvekkeella minä rakennan uuden pöydän?

Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and you can move elements for emphasis or to highlight information.

All of these are grammatically correct:

• Minä rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.
• Rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.
• Parvekkeella rakennan uuden pöydän.
• Parvekkeella minä rakennan uuden pöydän.

Changing the order usually changes what is emphasized or what is presented as “known” vs “new” information.

For example, starting with Parvekkeella draws attention to the location: On the balcony (not elsewhere) I’m building a new table.

Where is the word “a” or “the” in this sentence? How do you say “a new table” vs “the new table” in Finnish?

Finnish has no articles like English “a” or “the”.

• uusi pöytä can mean “a new table” or “the new table”
• uuden pöydän can mean “a new table” (as an object) or “the new table” (as an object)

The context usually tells you whether it’s indefinite (“a”) or definite (“the”). If you really need to emphasize definiteness, you might use other words, like:

• se uusi pöytä – that new table
• juuri se uusi pöytä – exactly that new table

How would I say “I am building a new table on the balcony right now” and “I will build a new table on the balcony tomorrow”?

Use the same present tense rakennan with different time expressions:

• “I am building a new table on the balcony right now.”
  → Rakennan juuri nyt uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

• “I will build a new table on the balcony tomorrow.”
  → Huomenna rakennan uuden pöydän parvekkeella.

Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense; the present is used with adverbs like huomenna (tomorrow), ensi viikolla (next week), etc., to show future time.