Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.

In the evening I am at home making vegetable soup.

Breakdown of Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.

• olla: to be
• kotona: at home
• tehdä: to make
• illalla: in the evening
• kasviskeitto: the vegetable soup

Questions & Answers about Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.

What does the ending -lla in illalla mean, and why not just ilta?

Illalla is ilta (evening) in the adessive case. The adessive -lla/-llä often means:

• on, at (a place): pöydällä = on the table
• at, during (a time): illalla = in the evening, aamulla = in the morning, yöllä = at night

So illalla literally means something like “at/during the evening”.

You normally don’t use bare ilta by itself to mean “in the evening”. Instead, you say:

• illalla = in the evening
• tänä iltana = this evening
• ensi iltana = tomorrow evening (lit. next evening)

The double ll in illalla comes from how ilta + lla merges in Finnish spelling and pronunciation, not from a separate meaning.

Where is the subject “I” in the sentence? Why is there no minä?

Finnish verb forms show the person and number, so the subject pronoun is usually optional.

• olen = I am
• olet = you are
• on = he/she/it is

Because olen already tells you it’s “I”, you don’t have to say minä.

You can add minä for emphasis or contrast:

• Minä olen illalla kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  = I (as opposed to someone else) will be at home making vegetable soup in the evening.

But in neutral sentences, leaving out the pronoun is more natural.

What does kotona literally mean, and how is it different from kotiin and kotoa?

All three are from koti (home), but they express different directions:

• kotona = at home (location, “where?”)
  
  • Olen kotona. = I am at home.
• kotiin = (to) home (movement towards, “where to?”)
  
  • Menen kotiin. = I’m going home.
• kotoa = from home (movement away from, “from where?”)
  
  • Tulen kotoa. = I’m coming from home.

So in your sentence, kotona answers “Where am I?”:
Illalla olen kotona … = In the evening I am at home …

Note: these are slightly irregular forms; you don’t normally say kodissa for “at home” in everyday speech.

Why is olla used with tekemässä? Why not just say Illalla teen kotona kasviskeittoa?

Olla + -massa/-mässä is a special construction that expresses an ongoing activity, similar to English “to be doing”:

• Olen tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  ≈ I am in the middle of making vegetable soup.

So your sentence:

• Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  ≈ In the evening I will be at home (and I’ll be in the middle of making vegetable soup).

If you say:

• Illalla teen kotona kasviskeittoa.

the meaning is very close, but it’s a simple present/future statement without that explicit “in the middle of” nuance. The olla + tekemässä form highlights the process more clearly. Both are correct and natural.

What exactly is the form tekemässä, and how is it formed from tehdä?

Tekemässä is the third infinitive (MA-infinitive) in the inessive case.

Formation pattern (for most verbs):

1. Take the strong stem of the verb. For tehdä, the stem is teke-.
2. Add -ma/-mä (the MA-infinitive suffix).
   
   • teke- + mä → tekemä
3. Put that into the inessive case (-ssa/-ssä).
   
   • tekemä + ssä → tekemässä

So tekemässä literally is something like “in (the act of) doing”.

Compare with more regular verbs:

• lukea → lukemassa (reading)
• syödä → syömässä (eating)
• katsoa → katsomassa (watching)

Used with olla, it gives you the “be doing” meaning:

• Olen lukemassa. = I’m reading.
• Olen syömässä. = I’m eating.
• Olen tekemässä kasviskeittoa. = I’m making vegetable soup.

What is the difference between tekemässä and tekemään?

Both come from the same MA-infinitive base but with different cases:

• tekemässä = MA-infinitive inessive (-ssa/-ssä)

  • Used mostly with olla (to be) to mean being in the middle of doing something.
  • Olen tekemässä ruokaa. = I’m in the middle of making food.

• tekemään = MA-infinitive illative (-an/-än/-en/-on/-ön)

  • Used with verbs of movement or intention to mean “go (in order) to do / start doing”.
  • Menen tekemään ruokaa. = I’m going to make food.
  • Alan tekemään ruokaa. (colloquial) = I’m starting to make food.

So:

• Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  = In the evening I’ll be in the middle of making soup at home.

vs.

• Illalla menen kotiin tekemään kasviskeittoa.
  = In the evening I’ll go home to make vegetable soup.

Why is kasviskeittoa in the partitive case instead of kasviskeitto or kasviskeiton?

Kasviskeittoa is the partitive singular of kasviskeitto (vegetable soup).

The partitive here expresses two things that fit well with this sentence:

1. Ongoing/incomplete action

   • When you’re in the middle of making or eating something, the object is usually partitive.
   • Olen tekemässä kasviskeittoa. = I’m (in the process of) making some vegetable soup.

2. Unspecified quantity / “some”

   • Soup is usually treated like a mass noun: you’re making some amount of soup, not “one soup”.
   • Partitive often corresponds to English “some” or “(some) of”:
     
     • Juon vettä. = I drink (some) water.
     • Teen kasviskeittoa. = I’m making (some) vegetable soup.

Compare:

• Teen kasviskeiton.
  = I will make the whole soup / a specific batch of soup (more bounded, a complete result).

In your sentence, kasviskeittoa is the natural, neutral choice.

Could I say Illalla olen kotona ja teen kasviskeittoa instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is grammatically correct.

• Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  → One compact situation: In the evening I am at home, and what I’m doing there is making vegetable soup (I’m in the middle of it).

• Illalla olen kotona ja teen kasviskeittoa.
  → Two coordinated clauses: In the evening I am at home, and I make vegetable soup.

In practice, the second sentence will usually still be understood as “I’ll be at home and (there) I’ll make vegetable soup,” but it feels slightly less focused on the ongoing process and more like two separate statements that happen at the same time.

The original olla + tekemässä construction explicitly highlights the activity you’re engaged in while you’re at home.

Can the word order change, for example Olen illalla kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa? Does the meaning change?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible. All of these are possible:

• Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
• Olen illalla kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
• Olen kotona illalla tekemässä kasviskeittoa.

The basic meaning stays the same: in the evening, you are at home making vegetable soup.

The differences are mainly about emphasis and information flow:

• Putting illalla first (Illalla olen…) highlights the time.
• Putting olen first (Olen illalla…) can feel a bit more neutral: “I am (then) at home…”
• You can strongly emphasize other elements by moving them to the front:
  
  • Kotona olen illalla tekemässä kasviskeittoa. (emphasis on at home)
  • Kasviskeittoa olen illalla kotona tekemässä. (emphasis on vegetable soup)

As a learner, using Illalla olen kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa or Olen illalla kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa is perfectly fine and natural.

How would I make this sentence negative in Finnish?

To negate olen, you use the Finnish negative verb en plus the basic form of olla:

• En ole = I am not

So a straightforward negative version is:

• Illalla en ole kotona tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  = In the evening I will not be at home making vegetable soup.

If you want to say “I will be at home, but I won’t be making vegetable soup”, you could say:

• Illalla olen kotona, mutta en ole tekemässä kasviskeittoa.
  or more simply:
  
  • Illalla olen kotona, mutta en tee kasviskeittoa.

Both patterns are useful:

• en ole tekemässä = I am not in the middle of doing
• en tee = I do not / I will not do (simple negation of the verb)