Learn Hardcore Finnish: Teen ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan. - I make an appointment online so that I get a suitable time with the doctor.

Teen ajanvarauksen
- Literally: I make a reservation of time/an appointment.
- Uses the general verb tehdä (to do, to make) + the noun ajanvaraus (appointment booking).
- Slightly more formal or neutral-sounding.
Varaan ajan
- Literally: I reserve a time.
- Uses the specific verb varata (to reserve, to book) + aika (time, appointment).
- Very common in everyday speech, maybe a bit more direct.

In real-life Finnish, you will hear all of these:

Teen ajanvarauksen netissä.
Varaan ajan netissä.
Varaan lääkäriajan netissä. (I book a doctor’s appointment online.)

They all express the same basic idea; the sentence in your example just happens to use the noun + tehdä pattern.

What case is ajanvarauksen in, and why does it have that -n?

Ajanvarauksen is in the genitive/accusative singular form.

Basic form (nominative): ajanvaraus
Genitive/accusative singular: ajanvarauksen

Here it functions as the direct object of teen:

Teen mitä? → ajanvarauksen

In Finnish, a complete, bounded action usually takes a total object, whose form often looks like the genitive singular (-n):

Luet kirjan. – You read the book (to the end, as a whole).
Syön omenan. – I eat the apple (all of it).
Teen ajanvarauksen. – I make the appointment (one whole, specific reservation).

So the -n marks that this is a full, completed appointment-making event, not an ongoing or partial one.

What exactly does ajanvaraus mean, and why is there an n in the middle?

Ajanvaraus is a compound noun:

aika = time, appointment
varaus = reservation, booking

When aika becomes the first part of a compound, it very often appears as ajan instead of aika. That -n is historically the genitive of aika, and it works like a linking element in many compounds:

ajanvaraus – appointment booking (time-reservation)
ajanvarausjärjestelmä – appointment booking system
ajankäyttö – use of time
ajanhallinta – time management

So ajanvaraus literally has the idea of reservation of (a) time, but functionally it just means appointment booking.

Why is it netissä and not something like netistä or nettiin?

The noun netti (the internet) is in the inessive case: netissä = in the internet / on the internet.

Finnish uses inessive (-ssa/-ssä) for where something happens or where something is:

kotona / kodissa – at home / in the house
kaupungissa – in the city
netissä – on/inside the internet → online

Other forms exist, but they have different meanings:

netistä (elative, “out of / from the net”)
- Löysin sen netistä. – I found it on the internet (lit. from the net).
nettiin (illative, “into the net”)
- Laitan sen nettiin. – I’ll put it on the internet.

In your sentence, the activity happens online, so netissä (in/at the net) is the natural choice.

What does jotta do here, and how is it different from että?

Jotta introduces a purpose or goal clause. It usually translates as so that / in order that.

Teen ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan.
→ I do X in order to get Y.

Compare:

että – more neutral that, often reporting or explaining, not specifically purpose:
- Tiedän, että saan lääkärille sopivan ajan. – I know that I will get a suitable time with the doctor.
jotta – so that / in order that, explicitly expresses intent or purpose:
- Teen ajanvarauksen, jotta saan ajan. – I make an appointment so that I get a time.

So here, jotta makes it clear that making the booking is done with the purpose of getting a suitable appointment.

Why is it jotta saan and not jotta saisin?

Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance is different:

jotta saan (indicative)
- Speaker treats the result as realistic and expected:
  - I’ll do this, and as a result I (actually) get a suitable time.
- Neutral, straightforward.
jotta saisin (conditional)
- Adds a sense of wish, hope, or slight uncertainty:
  - I’m doing this so that I would get a suitable time (I hope / if possible).
- Often sounds a bit more tentative or polite, especially in requests.

So:

Teen ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan.
→ I book online with the expectation that I will get a suitable time.
Teen ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saisin lääkärille sopivan ajan.
→ I’m booking online in the hope that I would get a suitable time.

Why does lääkäri take -lle (lääkärille) here? Could we say lääkärin or lääkäriin instead?

Lääkärille is the allative case: to the doctor / for the doctor.

In this phrase:

saan lääkärille sopivan ajan
→ I get a suitable appointment for the doctor / with the doctor.

The allative -lle often marks:

Recipient / beneficiary:
- Ostan lahjan lapselle. – I buy a present for the child.
Destination / target:
- Lähetän kirjeen lääkärille. – I send a letter to the doctor.

Other possibilities:

lääkärin (genitive: “of the doctor”)
- saan lääkärin ajan – more like “I get the doctor’s time” / “an appointment of the doctor”; possible, but a bit different structure and less idiomatic than ajan lääkärille.
lääkäriin (illative: “into the doctor / to the doctor’s place”)
- Usually used with movement verbs toward the clinic:
  - Menen lääkäriin. – I’m going to the doctor (to the doctor’s office).

For appointments, Finnish very commonly says:

aika lääkärille – appointment with the doctor (literally “time to the doctor”)

So lääkärille is the natural case to express an appointment with a doctor.

What case is ajan in sopivan ajan, and how does sopivan relate to it?

In sopivan ajan, both words are in the genitive/accusative singular:

Basic forms: sopiva (suitable), aika (time, appointment)
Here: sopivan ajan

Why?

Ajan is the direct object of saan:
- Saan mitä? → ajan
  It’s a total object, so it uses the genitive/accusative -n.
Sopivan is an adjective modifying ajan, so it must agree in case and number:
- One suitable time → sopiva aika (nominative)
- I get one suitable time → saan sopivan ajan (genitive/accusative)

This agreement is standard in Finnish:

Näen pienen talon. – I see a small house.
- talon = object,
- pienen = adjective in the same case and number.

So sopivan ajan works exactly like that.

Can the word order change, for example to Teen netissä ajanvarauksen, jotta saan sopivan ajan lääkärille? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can change the word order, and the basic meaning stays the same.

Possible variants:

Teen ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan.
Teen netissä ajanvarauksen, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan.
Teen netissä ajanvarauksen, jotta saan sopivan ajan lääkärille.

Nuances:

Putting netissä earlier (Teen netissä ajanvarauksen) slightly emphasizes where you make the booking.
Moving lääkärille to the end (sopivan ajan lääkärille) slightly emphasizes the idea that the time is suitable for the doctor / with the doctor.

But all of these are natural and would be understood in the same way in normal conversation. Finnish word order is flexible, and focus/emphasis is what mainly shifts.

Is there a simpler or more colloquial way to say this?

Yes, several very natural alternatives exist. For example:

Varaan ajan netissä, jotta saan sopivan ajan lääkärille.
– Uses varaan instead of teen ajanvarauksen, a bit more direct.

In everyday speech, people might even shorten the idea if the purpose is obvious from context:

Varaan lääkäriajan netissä. – I book a doctor’s appointment online.
Teen ajanvarauksen lääkärille netissä. – I make a booking for the doctor online.

Your original sentence is clear and correct; these are just slightly shorter or more conversational versions.

The verbs are in the present tense (teen, saan), but in English we might say I’m going to make or I’ll make. Is the Finnish present used for future here?

Yes. Finnish normally uses the present tense to talk about the near future, where English would often use:

will: I’ll make…
going to: I’m going to make…
or even the present continuous: I’m making…

So:

Teen ajanvarauksen netissä huomenna.
→ I’ll make an appointment online tomorrow.

You only need the Finnish future periphrasis (like aion tehdä = I intend to do) when you want to emphasize intention or plan:

Aion tehdä ajanvarauksen netissä, jotta saan lääkärille sopivan ajan.
→ I intend to make an appointment online so that I get a suitable time with the doctor.

But in most everyday contexts, plain present (teen, saan) is the normal way to talk about future actions.