Minä juon kahvin kerralla.

I drink the coffee at once.

Breakdown of Minä juon kahvin kerralla.

• minä: I
• kahvi: the coffee
• juoda: to drink
• kerralla: at once

Questions & Answers about Minä juon kahvin kerralla.

What does each word in Minä juon kahvin kerralla literally mean?

Word by word:

• Minä – I (1st person singular pronoun)
• juon – (I) drink
  
  • from the verb juoda = to drink
  • juon is present tense, 1st person singular
• kahvin – the coffee / that coffee / the cup of coffee (as a whole thing)
• kerralla – in one go / at one time / in one sitting

So a fairly literal translation could be: “I drink the coffee in one go.”

Why is it kahvin and not kahvi or kahvia?

This is about the object case in Finnish.

• kahvi – basic (nominative) form, usually for subjects, dictionary form
• kahvia – partitive: often used when
  • the amount is indefinite or uncountable (I drink some coffee)
  • the action is incomplete, ongoing, or repeated
• kahvin – total object (genitive/accusative form): used when
  • the whole object is affected
  • the action is viewed as completed with respect to that object

In Minä juon kahvin kerralla:

• You drink all of that coffee, from start to finish, in one go.
• Because the action is completed and the whole coffee is involved, Finnish uses kahvin (total object), not kahvia.

Compare:

• Minä juon kahvia. – I drink coffee. / I’m drinking (some) coffee.
  (Indefinite amount, not necessarily finished.)
• Minä juon kahvin. – I drink the coffee (all of it).
  (A specific coffee, completely drunk.)

What case is kahvin, exactly? Is it genitive or accusative?

Formally, kahvin looks like the genitive singular (same ending -n), but in this sentence it functions as a total object, which is often called accusative in Finnish grammar.

For singular nouns:

• Genitive and accusative have the same form: kahvin
• Which one it “is” depends on function in the sentence.

Here, kahvin is:

• not showing possession
• but being the object of the verb juon

So grammatically we say it’s in the (genitive-type) accusative as a total object.

What exactly does kerralla mean, and what case is it?

Kerralla comes from the noun kerta = time / occasion / once.

• Stem: kerta
• Case: adessive singular
• Adessive ending: -lla
• Due to consonant gradation, kerta → kerralla (t → rr)

Meaning:

• Literally: “on one time/occasion”
• Idiomatically: “in one go, all at once, in one sitting”

So kahvin kerralla is “the coffee (drunk) in one go.”

Can I leave out Minä, or is it necessary?

You can absolutely leave it out. In spoken and written Finnish, subject pronouns are usually omitted when the verb ending already shows the person.

So all of these are fine and mean the same in context:

• Minä juon kahvin kerralla.
• Juon kahvin kerralla.

Using Minä:

• can add slight emphasis on I (as opposed to someone else)
• is also common in beginner textbooks to make things clearer

But grammatically, Juon kahvin kerralla is perfectly correct and very natural.

Does juon mean “I drink”, “I am drinking”, or “I will drink”?

Finnish has just one present tense, and juon can cover several English forms. The exact meaning depends on context:

• I drink coffee in one go. (a general habit)
• I am drinking the coffee in one go. (right now)
• I’ll drink the coffee in one go. (future, if the context is about future plans)

So:

• juon = present tense, 1st person singular of juoda
• English will choose between I drink / I am drinking / I will drink based on context.

In isolation, Minä juon kahvin kerralla can be translated as either:

• I drink the coffee in one go. (habit or generic statement) or
• I am drinking the coffee in one go. (right now) or
• I’ll drink the coffee in one go. (if it’s clearly about the future in the wider context)

Is the word order fixed, or can I say Juon kahvin kerralla or Minä kerralla juon kahvin?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and changes often affect emphasis more than basic meaning.

All of these are grammatically possible:

1. Minä juon kahvin kerralla.
2. Juon kahvin kerralla.
3. Kahvin juon kerralla. (emphasises the coffee in contrast to something else)
4. Kerralla juon kahvin. (emphasises in one go – “what I do in one go is drink the coffee”)

However:

• The most neutral/natural in everyday speech would be Juon kahvin kerralla or Minä juon kahvin kerralla.
• Minä kerralla juon kahvin is unusual in normal speech; it sounds marked and somewhat poetic or contrastive.

So yes, the word order can change, but the standard neutral order is: (Minä) juon kahvin kerralla.

How would I say “I drink coffee (in general) in one go”, instead of one specific coffee?

To express a general habit with an indefinite amount of coffee, you’d use the partitive:

• Juon kahvia kerralla.

Depending on context, that could be interpreted as:

• I drink coffee in one go. (whenever I drink it, I down it)
• I drink (some) coffee at a time / per sitting.

Compare:

• Juon kahvin kerralla. – I drink the (whole) coffee in one go.
  (a specific cup or portion, finished completely)
• Juon kahvia kerralla. – I drink coffee in one go / at a time.
  (indefinite amount, more about the type of drink or habit)

How would I make it plural, like “I drink the coffees / all the coffees at once”?

You mainly change the object to a plural total object:

• Juon kahvit kerralla.

Here:

• kahvit = plural nominative used as a total object (this is one of the accusative patterns for plural nouns)
• Meaning: “I drink the coffees / all the coffees in one go.”

Some variations:

• Juon ne kahvit kerralla. – I drink those coffees in one go.
• Juon kaikki kahvit kerralla. – I drink all the coffees in one go.

The kerralla part stays the same.

How do I negate this sentence: “I don’t drink the coffee in one go”?

Finnish negation uses the negative verb en/et/ei… plus the main verb in a special form, and the object usually becomes partitive.

Affirmative:

• (Minä) juon kahvin kerralla. – I drink the coffee in one go.

Negative:

• (Minä) en juo kahvia kerralla. – I don’t drink (the) coffee in one go.

Changes:

• juon → en juo (negative verb en, main verb juoda in stem form juo)
• kahvin (total object) → kahvia (partitive) after negation

So, with negation, you normally use partitive for the object, even if in the affirmative sentence it was a total object.