Learn Hardcore Finnish: Teemme pienen nuotion rantaan ja paistamme makkaraa. - We make a small campfire on the shore and grill sausage.

The dictionary (infinitive) form of the verb is tehdä = to do, to make.
Teemme is:
- present tense
- 1st person plural (we)
- formed from the verb stem tee-
  - personal ending -mme (= we).

So:

minä teen = I do / I make
sinä teet = you (sg) do / make
hän tekee = he / she does / makes
me teemme = we do / make
te teette = you (pl) do / make
he tekevät = they do / make

In this sentence, teemme covers both present and near future: we are (going to) make a small campfire.

2. Why is there no word for “we” before teemme? Where is the subject?

The subject “we” is built into the verb form.

Finnish usually drops personal pronouns (minä, sinä, me, etc.) if the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.
The ending -mme in teemme means “we”, so you don’t need me.

You can say:

Me teemme pienen nuotion...

but that usually adds emphasis to we, like “We (as opposed to someone else) will make a small campfire...”
Neutral, everyday Finnish just uses Teemme... without me.

3. Why is it pienen nuotion and not pieni nuotio?

Because pienen nuotion is in the genitive case, used here as a total object of the verb tehdä (to make).

pieni nuotio = a small campfire (basic, nominative form)
pienen nuotion = a small campfire as a complete thing that is being created (genitive object)

In Finnish, when you finish or create a whole, bounded object, the direct object is typically:

genitive singular (for one complete item), or
nominative plural (for several complete items).

Here, you intend to make one whole campfire, so:

Teemme pienen nuotion ≈ We (will) make a small campfire (completely).

If the action were incomplete, ongoing, or you were talking about “some fire” in a more unbounded way, you might see the partitive instead (e.g. pientä nuotiota), but for a clearly completed, single campfire, genitive is normal.

4. Why do both words have -n: pienen nuotion? Why not only the noun?

In Finnish, adjectives agree with the noun in:

case (here: genitive),
number (singular/plural),
and sometimes in other grammatical features.

So:

noun (campfire): nuotio → nuotion (genitive singular)
adjective (small): pieni → pienen (genitive singular to match nuotion)

They “lock together”:

iso talo (a big house) → ison talon (of the big house / the big house as object)
pieni nuotio → pienen nuotion

This agreement is why both words take -n.

5. What case is rantaan, and what does it literally mean?

Rantaan is the illative case of ranta (shore, beach).

ranta (nominative) = shore, beach
rantaan (illative) = to the shore, into the shore area

The illative often answers “where to?” (direction into / to a place).

So rantaan here means “to the shore / down to the beach (area)”, with a sense of going into / arriving at that place. In the sentence, it reflects the idea that the campfire is being made at the shore, with an implicit movement there.

6. What is the difference between rantaan, rannalle, and rannalla?

All three come from ranta = shore, beach, but they are different cases with different meanings:

rantaan – illative
- “to the shore, into the shore area” (movement into / to)
- Example: Menemme rantaan. = We go to the shore.
rannalle – allative
- “onto the shore, to the shore (surface)” (movement onto a surface / area)
- Example: Tuuli käy rannalle. = The wind blows onto the shore.
rannalla – adessive
- “on the shore, at the shore” (location on / at)
- Example: Olemme rannalla. = We are on the shore.

In many everyday contexts, both rantaan and rannalle can be translated as “to the shore / to the beach”, with only a subtle nuance: rantaan feels more like into the area, rannalle like onto the edge / surface. Both are natural in campfire/beach contexts; the sentence just happens to use rantaan.

7. Why is makkaraa in the partitive case? Why not just makkara?

Makkaraa is the partitive singular of makkara (sausage).

makkara (nominative) = a sausage / sausage (as a countable thing)
makkaraa (partitive) = some sausage, sausage (indefinite amount), sausages in general

Finnish uses the partitive object for:

Indefinite or uncounted amounts
- You are not specifying exactly how many sausages.
Ongoing / not completed actions, or “some of” something.
With many food-preparation verbs (eat, drink, cook), especially when the quantity is not specified.

So paistamme makkaraa ≈ “we (will) fry / grill some sausage”
The focus is not “we will grill exactly three complete sausages”, just an unspecific amount.

If you said:

Paistamme makkarat.

that would sound like “We will grill the sausages (all of them, a specific set).”

8. Could I say paistamme makkarat instead of paistamme makkaraa? What would change?

Yes, but the meaning and feeling change:

Paistamme makkaraa.
- partitive singular
- “We (will) grill some sausage / sausages (in general, unspecified amount).”
- Neutral, typical when you just mention the activity.
Paistamme makkarat.
- nominative plural total object
- “We (will) grill the sausages / all the sausages (that are in question).”
- Implies a specific, complete set of sausages (e.g. all the ones we brought).

So makkaraa = indefinite “some sausage”;
makkarat = definite set “the sausages (all of them)”.

9. In English, “to fry” and “to grill” are different. Does paistaa really mean “grill sausages over a campfire”?

Yes. Paistaa is quite broad and depends on context.

It can mean:

to fry in a pan
to bake (in an oven)
to roast / grill over a fire or heat

With makkara (sausage), especially with a nuotio (campfire), paistaa makkaraa naturally means:

“to grill / roast sausages over the fire.”

There is also a more specific verb:

grillata = to grill (loan word from English / Swedish)

So you could also say:

Grillaamme makkaraa. = We (will) grill sausage.

But paistaa makkaraa (nuotiolla) is the classic idiom for campfire sausages.

10. What tense are teemme and paistamme? Are they present or future?

Finnish has only one simple present tense, and it covers both:

present: we make / we are making
near future: we will make / are going to make

So:

Teemme pienen nuotion...
Paistamme makkaraa.

can be translated as either:

“We are making a small campfire on the shore and we are grilling sausage.”
“We will make a small campfire on the shore and we will grill sausage.”

The context decides whether you understand it as present or (near) future. In a plan or invitation, it’s typically future.

11. Where are the words “a” and “the” in this sentence?

Finnish has no articles like “a / an” or “the” at all.

So:

pienen nuotion can mean:
- a small campfire
- the small campfire
makkaraa can mean:
- some sausage
- the sausage (in some specific contexts)

Whether English uses a or the is decided by context, not by any word in Finnish.
Here, the natural translation is:

“We (will) make a small campfire on the shore and (we) grill some sausage.”

12. Can I change the word order, for example put rantaan at the beginning?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements to change emphasis.

Some natural variants:

Rantaan teemme pienen nuotion ja paistamme makkaraa.
- Emphasis on rantaan (“To the shore we will make a small campfire and grill sausage.”)
Teemme rantaan pienen nuotion ja paistamme makkaraa.
- Emphasis first on the action (we make), then where.
Pienen nuotion teemme rantaan ja paistamme makkaraa.
- Emphasis on pienen nuotion (the small campfire, not a big one).

The original:

Teemme pienen nuotion rantaan ja paistamme makkaraa.

is a neutral, straightforward order: subject/verb first, then object, then place, then second action.

13. What are all the cases in this sentence, and what does each one do?

Here is a breakdown:

Teemme – verb, present tense, 1st person plural (we make).
pienen nuotion – genitive singular (adjective + noun)
- pieni → pienen
- nuotio → nuotion
- Function: total object of tehdä (we make one whole campfire).
rantaan – illative singular
- ranta → rantaan
- Function: direction: to the shore / into the shore area (where the campfire will be).
ja – coordinating conjunction = and.
paistamme – verb, present tense, 1st person plural (we fry / grill).
makkaraa – partitive singular
- makkara → makkaraa
- Function: partial / indefinite object:
  - some sausage, an undefined amount of sausage.

So the cases do a lot of work that English usually does with prepositions (to, on) and with articles or word order.