Breakdown of Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
Questions & Answers about Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
The -n is the genitive singular ending. It usually corresponds to “of X” or a possessive relationship.
- teatterikerho = theater club
- teatterikerhon = of the theater club / the theater club’s
- näyttelijät = actors (plural)
So teatterikerhon näyttelijät literally means “the theater club’s actors” or “the actors of the theater club.”
Structure:
- [genitive noun] + [head noun]
- owner / group + thing that belongs to it
→ teatterikerhon (whose?) näyttelijät (what?)
You cannot just say *teatterikerho näyttelijät for “the theater club’s actors”; you need the genitive -n to mark that relationship.
Teatterikerho is one compound word:
- teatteri = theater
- kerho = club
→ teatterikerho = theater club (a club that does theater)
Finnish very often forms new nouns by compounding: two (or more) nouns are written together as a single word to form a more specific concept. In English you might write “theater club” as two words, but in Finnish it becomes one.
The subject näyttelijät is plural (“actors”), so the verb olla must also be in the plural third person:
- singular:
- näyttelijä on = the actor is
- plural:
- näyttelijät ovat = the actors are
So:
- Teatterikerhon näyttelijä on… = The theater club’s actor is…
- Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat… = The theater club’s actors are…
Verb and subject must agree in number in standard Finnish (just like “is/are” in English).
Parhaillaan is an adverb that means roughly “right now / at the moment / currently, in the middle of doing something.”
In this sentence:
- ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa
≈ “are currently rehearsing / are in the middle of rehearsing”
Comparison:
- nyt = now (very neutral, just “at this time”)
- He harjoittelevat nyt. = They’re rehearsing now.
- tällä hetkellä = at this moment (slightly more formal/neutral)
- He harjoittelevat tällä hetkellä. = They are rehearsing at the moment.
- parhaillaan = right now, especially emphasizing being in the midst of an activity
- He ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa. = They are (just now) in the middle of rehearsing.
All three can often be used in similar contexts, but parhaillaan fits very well with the ongoing-process feel of ovat harjoittelemassa.
Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs like parhaillaan. All of these are grammatical, with only slight differences in emphasis:
- Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
- Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat harjoittelemassa parhaillaan uutta näytelmää.
- Parhaillaan teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
The original order is very natural and neutral. Moving parhaillaan to the front (sentence-initial) emphasizes the time frame (“right now...”).
You usually don’t split ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa in a strange way (e.g. putting parhaillaan after uutta), because that would sound awkward or heavy.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances.
He harjoittelevat uutta näytelmää.
= They rehearse / are rehearsing a new play.
(simple present; no special focus on the process)He ovat harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
= They are in the middle of rehearsing a new play / They are (currently) rehearsing a new play.
(focus on being in the state of doing that activity at this moment)
The construction olla + V-massa/V-mässä (here: ovat harjoittelemassa) is often used to express something like the English present progressive (“are doing”) and to stress the ongoing nature of the activity.
Harjoittelemassa is the inessive (-ssa/-ssä) case of the third infinitive of the verb harjoitella (“to practice / rehearse”).
Steps from the basic verb harjoitella:
- Take the third infinitive stem:
- harjoitella → harjoittelem-
- Add the inessive ending -ssa / -ssä:
- harjoittelem- + -ssa → harjoittelemassa
In this olla + third infinitive in -massa/-mässä structure:
- olla harjoittelemassa ≈ “to be practicing / to be rehearsing”
- It emphasizes a process in progress, similar to “to be in the act of doing X.”
The -massa/-mässä ending is the inessive case of the 3rd infinitive. With olla, it forms a construction that often means “to be in the middle of doing something”.
Pattern:
- olla + verb (3rd infinitive in -massa/-mässä)
- He ovat syömässä. = They are (in the middle of) eating.
- Olen lukemassa kirjaa. = I’m reading a book (right now).
- Olemme harjoittelemassa. = We’re rehearsing (in progress).
So here:
- ovat harjoittelemassa = “are in the middle of rehearsing.”
Uutta näytelmää is in the partitive case (both adjective and noun):
- uusi näytelmä = a new play (nominative, basic dictionary form)
- uutta näytelmää = a new play (partitive)
The verb harjoitella normally takes a partitive object when you’re working on something, especially when the action is ongoing/incomplete or the object is not seen as a definite completed whole.
So:
- harjoitella uutta näytelmää = to rehearse a new play (work on it; the rehearsals are ongoing, the play is not yet “completely done”)
This matches the idea that rehearsing is a process, not something you finish in one go.
Both can appear after some verbs, but they have different aspectual/semantic nuances.
- uuden näytelmän = genitive object (often a total object)
- Suggests the action affects the object as a whole, or is completed/goal-oriented.
- uutta näytelmää = partitive object (often a partial/ongoing object)
- Suggests an ongoing, incomplete, or unbounded action.
With harjoitella, the partitive is the normal, natural choice:
- He harjoittelevat uutta näytelmää.
= They are rehearsing a new play (ongoing, working on it).
Using uuden näytelmän with harjoitella would sound unusual or overly specific, as if focusing on the play as a finished whole that they somehow “practice entirely.” In practice, learners should remember: harjoitella + partitive object is the standard pattern.
The number of the object depends on how many objects there are, not on how many people are acting on it.
In this sentence:
- One play is being rehearsed, by multiple actors.
- So the object is singular: näytelmä → näytelmää (singular partitive).
If they were rehearsing several different plays, you could have plural:
- He harjoittelevat uusia näytelmiä.
= They are rehearsing new plays.
But here it’s one new play, so the noun stays singular, just in the partitive case.
In standard written Finnish, you should not omit ovat here. The linking verb olla is needed for this construction:
- [Subject] + ovat + [3rd infinitive in -massa/-mässä]
So the full correct form is:
- Teatterikerhon näyttelijät ovat parhaillaan harjoittelemassa uutta näytelmää.
In some spoken/colloquial Finnish, people might drop forms of olla in certain contexts (“ne parhaillaan harjoittelemassa…”), but for learners and for proper writing, always include ovat.
The noun näyttelijä (“actor”) follows a common -ja/-jä type pattern:
- singular nominative: näyttelijä
- plural nominative: näyttelijät
Formation:
- näyttelijä (singular)
- Add plural -t, but because of vowel harmony and the -jä ending, you get:
- näyttelijä + t → näyttelijät
So:
- yksi näyttelijä = one actor
- kaksi näyttelijää = two actors (partitive plural)
- näyttelijät = (the) actors (nominative plural, used as subject here)