Learn Hardcore Finnish: Syömme aamiaisen kotona ennen kuin lähdemme mökille. - We eat breakfast at home before we leave for the cottage.

Syömme aamiaisen
→ We (will) eat the (whole) breakfast / We (usually) eat breakfast
The breakfast is treated as a complete whole, so the object is in genitive (aamiaisen).

Using the bare nominative aamiainen as a direct object (Syömme aamiainen) is incorrect in standard Finnish. You need either genitive (aamiaisen) or partitive (aamiaista) for the object here.

What’s the difference between Syömme aamiaisen and Syömme aamiaista?

Both are grammatically correct, but they feel different:

Syömme aamiaisen.
– The action is seen as complete.
– Implication: we (will) eat the whole breakfast, from start to finish.
– Often used for planned or habitual actions.
Syömme aamiaista.
– Partitive object: the action is ongoing, incomplete, or unbounded.
– Typical translation: “We are eating breakfast.” (focus on the process, not on finishing it.)
– Also used if you don’t care about the whole amount.

In your sentence about a plan/schedule before leaving, aamiaisen (total object) fits very well.

Why is it kotona and not just koti?

Koti means home in the basic form, but Finnish uses cases to show location:

koti – (basic form, used e.g. as subject or object)
kotona – at home (inessive case = inside/at a place)
kotiin – to home (illative case = movement into)
kotoa – from home (elative case = movement out of)

In your sentence, you want to say where you eat breakfast → at home, so you use:

Syömme aamiaisen kotona. = We eat breakfast at home.

Saying Syömme aamiaisen koti. is ungrammatical; a location normally needs a locative case ending.

Why is it mökille and not just mökki?

Again, this is about cases, this time showing direction / movement:

mökki – cottage (basic form)
mökille – to the cottage (allative case: movement onto/onto the area of / to a place)
mökillä – at the cottage (adessive: on/at a place)
mökiltä – from the cottage (ablative: movement from a place)

In your sentence, you are going to the cottage, so you need the allative:

lähdemme mökille = we leave for the cottage / we go to the cottage.

So mökille encodes the direction “to” in its case ending -lle.

Why do we say ennen kuin lähdemme and not just ennen lähdemme?

Finnish makes a distinction:

ennen + noun in partitive
– ennen aamiaista = before breakfast
ennen kuin + finite clause (subject + verb)
– ennen kuin lähdemme = before we leave

You are introducing a full clause (“we leave for the cottage”), not just a noun, so you must use ennen kuin.

Using only ennen directly with a conjugated verb (ennen lähdemme) is wrong in standard Finnish. It has to be:

ennen kuin lähdemme
or, with a noun only: ennen lähtöä (“before (the) departure”)

Can ennen kuin be written as one word, like ennenkuin?

In modern standard Finnish, the recommended form is two words:

ennen kuin

You may see ennenkuin in older texts or informal writing, but in current standard language (and in learning materials), you should use ennen kuin.

Why are both verbs in the present tense if we’re talking about the future?

Finnish often uses the present tense for:

future events, especially plans and schedules
general truths and habits

So:

Syömme aamiaisen kotona ennen kuin lähdemme mökille.
literally: We eat breakfast at home before we leave for the cottage.
naturally in English: We’ll eat / We’re going to eat breakfast at home before we leave for the cottage.

There is no separate “future tense” form in Finnish; you typically use the present and let the context show it’s about the future.

What does the ending -mme mean in syömme and lähdemme?

The ending -mme marks 1st person plural (we) for verbs in the present tense:

syödä (to eat) → syömme (we eat)
lähteä (to leave) → lähdemme (we leave)

Verb stem changes:

syödä → syö- + mme → syömme
lähteä → lähde- + mme → lähdemme
(the t in lähte- weakens to d in lähde- because of consonant gradation)

So you don’t need the pronoun me; -mme already says “we”.

Could we change the word order, e.g. Ennen kuin lähdemme mökille, syömme aamiaisen kotona?

Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and both are correct:

Syömme aamiaisen kotona ennen kuin lähdemme mökille.
Ennen kuin lähdemme mökille, syömme aamiaisen kotona.

The second version puts more emphasis on the time relation (before we leave…), but the meaning is the same. The important parts (cases, verb endings, ennen kuin) stay the same; they do not change with word order.

Is there any difference between Syömme aamiaisen kotona and Syömme kotona aamiaisen?

Both are grammatically correct, with only a slight nuance difference in emphasis.

Syömme aamiaisen kotona.
– Neutral; slight emphasis on what we eat (aamiaisen) and where (kotona).
Syömme kotona aamiaisen.
– The adverbial kotona comes earlier, so there is a small shift in focus to where this happens, but in everyday speech the difference is minor.

Unlike in English, Finnish relies much more on endings (cases, verb forms) than on word order to show who does what to whom.

Why not simply say Syömme kotona ennen kuin lähdemme mökille and omit aamiaisen?

You can say:

Syömme kotona ennen kuin lähdemme mökille.

This just means “We will eat at home before we leave for the cottage” without specifying what you’ll eat. It’s more general.

By including aamiaisen, you specify that it’s breakfast you’ll eat:

Syömme aamiaisen kotona… = We (will) eat breakfast at home…