Questions & Answers about Minä juon kahvia maanantaisin.
Kahvia is in the partitive case. You use the partitive for:
- Uncountable / mass nouns: coffee, water, milk, etc.
- When you mean “some coffee” or an indefinite amount rather than “the whole coffee” or a specific cup.
So:
- Minä juon kahvia. = I drink (some) coffee / I drink coffee (in general).
- Minä juon kahvin. = I drink the coffee (all of it, a specific one). (accusative)
In this sentence, it’s about the general habit of drinking coffee, not one specific, whole coffee, so kahvia is correct.
The partitive case (here: kahvia) often expresses:
An incomplete or ongoing action
- Juon kahvia. – You are (habitually or currently) drinking coffee; the action is not presented as fully completed.
A part of a whole / an indefinite amount
- Syön leipää. – I eat (some) bread.
- Juon kahvia. – I drink (some) coffee.
“Some” in English, when uncountable or non-specific
Finnish doesn’t have articles (a/an, the), so partitive often covers the idea of “some”.
So juon kahvia is natural because you are not talking about one specific, complete coffee; you are talking about the general act of drinking coffee.
Both exist, but they mean different things:
maanantaina = on Monday (a particular Monday, or one specific Monday in context)
- Minä juon kahvia maanantaina. – I will drink coffee on Monday (that specific Monday we’re talking about).
maanantaisin = on Mondays, every Monday, on Monday(s) regularly
- Minä juon kahvia maanantaisin. – I drink coffee on Mondays (as a habit, every Monday).
So maanantaisin expresses habitual, repeated action on that weekday, matching the English “on Mondays.”
The ending -sin forms an adverbial meaning roughly “on Xs” / “every X”:
- maanantai → maanantaisin = on Mondays
- tiistai → tiistaisin = on Tuesdays
- perjantai → perjantaisin = on Fridays
It’s especially common with days of the week to indicate regular, repeated occurrence.
Historically, this form comes from an old plural instructive case, now mostly fossilized as adverbs. For learners, the practical rule is:
Weekday + -sin → “on Xdays / every Xday”
You can absolutely drop Minä:
- Juon kahvia maanantaisin. – perfectly natural and very common.
In Finnish, the verb ending -n in juon already shows the subject is I:
- juon = I drink
- juot = you drink (singular)
- juo = he/she drinks
You usually include Minä only when you want to:
- emphasize the subject:
- Minä juon kahvia maanantaisin, mutta sinä juot teetä.
- contrast with someone else.
So both are correct, but the neutral everyday version is usually Juon kahvia maanantaisin.
The verb is juoda (to drink). Its present tense is slightly irregular:
- infinitive: juoda
- 1st person singular: minä juon
- 2nd person singular: sinä juot
- 3rd person singular: hän juo
- 1st person plural: me juomme
- 2nd person plural: te juotte
- 3rd person plural: he juovat
So the pattern is: stem juo- + personal endings.
It’s not juodan because -an is not the present tense 1st person ending in Finnish. And juen would follow a different type of stem change that this verb does not use. You just need to memorize juoda → juon as part of the irregular pattern.
Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:
- Minä juon kahvia maanantaisin.
- Juon kahvia maanantaisin.
- Maanantaisin juon kahvia.
- Kahvia juon maanantaisin.
The basic meaning stays the same: I drink coffee on Mondays.
Word order mainly affects emphasis:
- Maanantaisin juon kahvia. – emphasizes “on Mondays” (maybe not on other days).
- Kahvia juon maanantaisin. – emphasizes “coffee” (maybe not tea, or not on other days).
In neutral context, any of them is fine; learners are usually safest with [subject] [verb] [object] [time].
Finnish has one present tense form that covers both English:
- simple present (I drink)
- present continuous (I am drinking)
Context decides which English form is natural:
- Juon kahvia nyt. – I am drinking coffee now.
- Juon kahvia maanantaisin. – I drink coffee on Mondays. (habit)
In your sentence, the adverb maanantaisin clearly marks a habitual action, so English uses the simple present: “I drink coffee on Mondays.”
You use the negative verb and keep kahvia in the partitive:
- Minä en juo kahvia maanantaisin.
or more naturally: - En juo kahvia maanantaisin.
Structure:
- en – negative verb (1st person singular)
- juo – verb stem (no personal ending when used with en)
- kahvia – still partitive
- maanantaisin – on Mondays, regularly
So positive: (Minä) juon kahvia maanantaisin.
Negative: (Minä) en juo kahvia maanantaisin.
Finnish has no articles (a/an, the), so you use case and context:
General habit, non-specific coffee
- Juon kahvia maanantaisin.
= I drink coffee / I drink some coffee on Mondays.
- Juon kahvia maanantaisin.
A specific, whole coffee (the coffee)
You can use the object in accusative-like form, which for many nouns looks like the nominative or genitive:- Juon kahvin maanantaisin. – I (always) drink the coffee (all of it) on Mondays.
(This sounds like some specific coffee each Monday; context must make it clear.)
- Juon kahvin maanantaisin. – I (always) drink the coffee (all of it) on Mondays.
“A coffee” in the café sense
Often said with a word like kupillinen (a cupful) or implied by context:- Juon kupin kahvia maanantaisin. – I drink a cup of coffee on Mondays.
But in many everyday contexts, Juon kahvia maanantaisin is enough, and English will choose “a coffee” or “coffee” depending on context.
- Juon kupin kahvia maanantaisin. – I drink a cup of coffee on Mondays.