Minä otan tabletin illalla.

I take a pill in the evening.

Breakdown of Minä otan tabletin illalla.

• minä: I
• illalla: in the evening
• ottaa: to take
• tabletti: the pill

Questions & Answers about Minä otan tabletin illalla.

Do I have to say Minä, or can I just say Otan tabletin illalla?

You can drop Minä.

• Minä otan tabletin illalla. – perfectly correct, slightly emphasizing I.
• Otan tabletin illalla. – also perfectly correct, and more typical in everyday speech.

Finnish verb endings already show the person:

• otan = I take
• otat = you take
• ottaa = he/she takes, etc.

So the subject pronoun (minä, I) is usually only added for emphasis or clarity, not because it’s grammatically required.

What exactly does otan mean, and what form is it?

Otan is the 1st person singular present tense form of the verb ottaa (to take).

• infinitive: ottaa – to take
• 1st person singular: otan – I take / I will take

Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense, so otan can mean:

• I take a tablet in the evening. (general or habitual)
• I will take a tablet in the evening. (future, from context)

The exact English translation depends on the context.

Why is it tabletin and not tabletti?

This has to do with the object case.

• tabletti is the basic form (nominative): a/the tablet.
• tabletin is the genitive form, which here functions as a total object.

In Minä otan tabletin illalla, the action is understood as completed and affects one whole tablet. That’s why the object is in the genitive:

• Otan tabletin. – I take (one specific, whole) tablet.
• Otan tablettia. – I take some tablet / a bit of tablet (partitive; very odd here unless you literally mean part of one tablet).

So tabletin says you’re taking one complete tablet as a completed event.

Does tabletin mean a pill or a tablet computer?

It can mean either:

• medication tablet / pill
• tablet computer

Which one is meant comes from context.

In a sentence about time of day and “taking” something, the natural interpretation is a medicine tablet (a pill). If you were talking about a device, you’d more likely say something like:

• Otan tabletin mukaan. – I’ll take the tablet (computer) with me.

So in Minä otan tabletin illalla, most Finns would think of a pill.

Why is it illalla and not ilta?

Ilta is the basic form (nominative) meaning evening.

Illalla is inessive case (ending -lla/-llä) used for time expressions, and it usually means “in the evening / at evening time”.

Common time expressions with this pattern:

• aamu → aamulla – in the morning
• päivä → päivällä – in the daytime / during the day
• ilta → illalla – in the evening
• yö → yöllä – at night

So illalla answers the question “When?” = in the evening.

Can I change the word order, like Illalla otan tabletin or Otan illalla tabletin? Does the meaning change?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, and these are all correct:

• Minä otan tabletin illalla.
• Otan tabletin illalla.
• Otan illalla tabletin.
• Illalla otan tabletin.

The basic meaning (I take a tablet in the evening) stays the same.

What changes is emphasis / what is presented as “old” vs “new” information:

• Illalla otan tabletin. – slightly emphasizes “in the evening” (contrasting with some other time).
• Tabletin otan illalla. – would emphasize the tablet (as opposed to something else).

But for a learner, you can treat these as “the same meaning”; the differences are subtle and about information structure.

How do I say “I take the tablet in the evening” vs “I take a tablet in the evening”? Does Finnish show that difference?

Finnish does not have articles (a, an, the), so:

• Minä otan tabletin illalla.

can mean:

• I take a tablet in the evening.
  or
• I take the tablet in the evening.

Context decides whether it’s understood as a tablet or the tablet. If you need to be very explicit about “the tablet”, you can use demonstratives:

• Minä otan sen tabletin illalla. – I take that tablet in the evening.
• Minä otan tämän tabletin illalla. – I take this tablet in the evening.

Is this sentence about one specific evening, or about something I do regularly?

By itself, Minä otan tabletin illalla is ambiguous:

• one specific future time: I’ll take a tablet this evening.
• habitual: I take a tablet in the evenings.

Finnish uses the present tense for both.

To make it clearly habitual, you might add an expression like:

• Minä otan tabletin joka ilta. – I take a tablet every evening.
• Illalla otan aina tabletin. – In the evening I always take a tablet.

Without such words, context decides whether it’s about today or a general habit.

How would the sentence change if I took more than one tablet?

A few common options:

1. A specific set of tablets (all of them):

   • Minä otan tabletit illalla.
     I take the tablets in the evening.
     (tabletit = plural, total object)

2. Some tablets (an indefinite quantity, not all):

   • Minä otan tabletteja illalla.
     I take tablets in the evening. / I take some tablets in the evening.
     (tabletteja = plural partitive, indefinite/partial)

3. A specific number of tablets:

   • Minä otan kaksi tablettia illalla. – I take two tablets in the evening.
   • Minä otan kolme tablettia illalla. – I take three tablets in the evening.

Here tablettia is the partitive singular used after numbers.

How is Minä otan tabletin illalla pronounced, and where is the stress?

In Finnish, stress is always on the first syllable of each word:

• MI-nä
• O-tan
• TA-ble-tin (more precisely: TA-ble-tin, with clear syllables)
• IL-lal-la

So you stress:

• MI in Minä
• O in otan
• TA in tabletin
• IL in illalla

Other tips:

• ä is like a in “cat”, not like English “may”.
• Double consonants (ll in illalla) are held longer than single ones; you should clearly hear two l sounds.