Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla. - I practice Finnish at home in the evening.

you want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else):
- Minä harjoittelen, mutta sinä et. – I practice, but you don’t.
you’re being very clear or formal, for example in beginner texts or careful speech.

In everyday speech, Harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla without minä is slightly more natural.

Why is it harjoittelen and not harjoittella or something else?

The base form (infinitive) of the verb is harjoitella (to practice).
The sentence uses the 1st person singular present tense:

Verb stem: harjoittele-
Person ending for I: -n

So:

harjoitella → harjoittele-
- n → harjoittelen
  Minä harjoittelen = I practice / I am practicing

Finnish present tense covers both English simple present and present continuous:

Minä harjoittelen suomea
= I practice Finnish / I am practicing Finnish

Why is it suomea and not suomi in this sentence?

Suomea is the partitive form of suomi (Finnish).

suomi = the basic form (nominative)
suomea = partitive singular

In this sentence, suomea is the object of harjoittelen.
Many verbs that describe:

doing something to a language (speaking, practicing, studying)
or an ongoing, incomplete activity

take a partitive object:

Harjoittelen suomea. – I practice Finnish.
Puhun suomea. – I speak Finnish.
Opiskelen suomea. – I study Finnish.

Using the partitive here suggests you are working on Finnish as an ongoing process, not something you can “complete” in one go. Saying harjoittelen suomen would be unusual and would sound like you are practicing “the entire Finnish language” as a completed whole.

What is the difference between suomi, suomea, and suomeksi?

They are different grammatical forms of the same word:

suomi – base form
- Suomi on vaikea kieli. – Finnish is a difficult language.
suomea – partitive
- Harjoittelen suomea. – I practice Finnish.
suomeksi – “in Finnish” (translative/adverbial use)
- Puhun suomeksi. – I speak in Finnish.
- Miten tämä sanotaan suomeksi? – How do you say this in Finnish?

So:

Harjoittelen suomea. – I practice the Finnish language.
Puhun suomeksi. – I speak using the Finnish language.

Why is suomi not capitalized in the sentence? In English, we write Finnish with a capital F.

Finnish capitalization rules are different from English:

Country names are capitalized:
- Suomi – Finland
Language names are not capitalized (unless at the start of a sentence):
- suomi – the Finnish language
Nationalities and related adjectives are also lowercase:
- suomalainen – Finnish (person), Finnish (adjective)

So:

Suomi on maa. – Finland is a country.
suomi on kieli. – Finnish is a language.
In the middle of a sentence you write: harjoittelen suomea (lowercase).

What does kotona mean exactly, and how is it different from koti?

koti = home (basic form)
kotona = at home

Kotona is the inessive case of koti, formed with the ending -ssa/-ssä, but this word is irregular and uses -na in appearance:

normal pattern:
- talo (house) → talossa (in the house)
irregular:
- koti → kotona (at home)

In meaning, kotona answers the question missä? (where?):

Missä sinä olet? – Where are you?
- Olen kotona. – I am at home.

In the sentence:

harjoittelen suomea kotona – I practice Finnish at home.

Why is it illalla and not just ilta?

ilta = evening (basic form)
illalla = in the evening / at evening time

Illalla is adessive case of ilta:

stem ilta-
adessive ending -lla/-llä
ilta → illalla (the stem gets an extra -l-)

In time expressions, the adessive can mean:

at / in (a certain time)

Examples:

aamulla – in the morning
päivällä – in the daytime
illalla – in the evening
yöllä – at night

So illalla answers milloin? (when?):

Milloin harjoittelet suomea? – When do you practice Finnish?
- Harjoittelen suomea illalla. – I practice Finnish in the evening.

Why does Finnish use endings like -na and -lla instead of separate words like “at” or “in”?

Finnish mostly uses case endings on nouns instead of prepositions:

kotona – at home
- contains the meaning “at / in” inside the ending
illalla – in the evening / at evening time
- contains the meaning “at (time)”

So instead of:

English: at home, in the evening
Finnish packs this into one word:
kotona, illalla

This is why the sentence has no separate word for at or in:

Minä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla.
Literally something like: I practice Finnish home-at evening-at.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Illalla harjoittelen suomea kotona?

The word order in Finnish is fairly flexible, and you can move parts to change or highlight the focus.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Minä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla.
Harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla.
Illalla harjoittelen suomea kotona.
Kotona illalla harjoittelen suomea.

Differences are about emphasis:

Starting with illalla emphasizes when:
- Illalla harjoittelen suomea kotona.
  → As for the evening, that’s when I practice Finnish at home.
Starting with kotona emphasizes where:
- Kotona illalla harjoittelen suomea.
  → At home in the evening is when I practice Finnish.

The “neutral” everyday version here would often be:

Harjoittelen suomea illalla kotona.
or
Harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla.

Both are fine; Finnish speakers don’t follow a rigid word-order rule like in English.

Does the sentence mean “I am practicing Finnish right now” or “I will practice Finnish this evening”?

Finnish present tense can cover both present and (near) future, depending on context.

Minä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla. can mean:

a general, repeated action:
- I practice Finnish at home in the evening (as a habit).
a specific future plan:
- I will practice Finnish at home this evening.

Context or extra words can clarify:

Yleensä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla.
– I usually practice Finnish at home in the evening.
Tänään illalla harjoittelen suomea kotona.
– This evening I will practice Finnish at home.

What is the difference between harjoitella, opiskella, and opetella?

All three can appear with suomea, but they have different nuances:

harjoitella suomea – to practice Finnish
- Focus on repetition, exercises, practicing skills.
opiskella suomea – to study Finnish
- More general and formal: attending a course, studying the language, using books.
opetella suomea – to learn Finnish (to teach oneself)
- Focus on the learning process itself, acquiring a new skill.

Examples:

Harjoittelen suomea kotona. – I practice Finnish at home.
Opiskelen suomea yliopistossa. – I study Finnish at the university.
Opettelen suomea itse. – I’m teaching myself Finnish / I’m learning Finnish on my own.

Why is there no article like “a” or “the” in suomea, kotona, illalla?

Finnish has no articles (no words like a, an, the).
The definiteness is usually understood from context, not from a separate word.

So:

Harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla. could correspond to:
- I practice Finnish at home in the evening.
- I practice Finnish at home in the evenings.
  depending on context.

You don’t need to add anything to mark “a/the”; you just use the noun in the correct case form:

suomea (partitive)
kotona (inessive)
illalla (adessive, temporal use).

How is Minä harjoittelen suomea kotona illalla pronounced, and are there any tricky sounds for English speakers?

Approximate pronunciation (syllable by syllable, stressed on the first syllable of each word):

Minä → MI-nä
harjoittelen → HAR-joit-te-len
- hj is like har-yoit-; tt is a long /t/ sound.
suomea → SUO-me-a
- uo is a diphthong, like saying “u-o” smoothly together.
kotona → KO-to-na
illalla → IL-lal-la
- double l is a long /l/; both lls are clearly pronounced.

Things to watch:

Double consonants (tt, ll) are held longer than single ones.
Every written vowel is pronounced; suomea has three vowel sounds: su-o-me-a.
Stress is always on the first syllable of a word in standard Finnish: MI-nä HAR-joit-te-len SUO-me-a KO-to-na IL-lal-la.