Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.

In the summer we sometimes go to islands.

Breakdown of Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.

• mennä: to go
• joskus: sometimes
• kesällä: in the summer
• saari: the island
• -iin: in

Questions & Answers about Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.

What is the literal, word‑for‑word breakdown of Kesällä menemme joskus saariin?

Here’s a gloss of each part:

• Kesä-llä

  • kesä = summer
  • -llä = adessive singular (often means “on / at”, but with time it means “in (the) …”)
    → “in (the) summer”

• mene-mme

  • mene- = stem of mennä (“to go”)
  • -mme = 1st person plural ending (we)
    → “we go”

• joskus

  • adverb
    → “sometimes”

• saari-in

  • saari = island
  • -in = illative plural (“into / to (multiple)”)
    → “to islands / into islands”

So very literally: “In summer go-we sometimes (to-)islands.”
Natural English: “In the summer we sometimes go to (the) islands.”

What case is kesällä, and why does it mean “in the summer”?

Kesällä is in the adessive case (ending -lla / -llä).

For time expressions, Finnish often uses the adessive to mean “in / during”:

• kesällä – in (the) summer
• talvella – in (the) winter
• keväällä – in (the) spring
• syksyllä – in (the) autumn
• yöllä – at night
• päivällä – in the daytime

So kesä (summer) + -llä (adessive) → “in the summer”.

Alternatives you might see:

• kesäisin – in summers / in the summertime (habitually)
• kesänä – “as a summer” (essive case, different meaning; e.g. “That summer was special” → Se kesä oli erityinen, not kesänä here)

You normally do not say kesässä; inessive (-ssa/-ssä, “inside”) doesn’t feel natural for seasons.

What is the base form of saariin, and what does the ending -iin mean?

The base (dictionary) form is saari (“island”).

Saariin is plural illative:

• saari = island (nominative singular)
• saari-in = into/to islands (illative plural)

The illative case (often ending -n, -seen, -hin, or -iin) is the “into / to (inside)” case.
In the plural, one common illative ending is -iin:

• saari → saariin – into/to islands
• järvi → järviin – into/to lakes
• koti → koteihin – into/to homes (another pattern, -ihin)

So saariin literally means “into islands”, but in normal English we’d just say “to (the) islands”.

Why is saariin plural? Could it be singular?

Saariin is plural because the idea is going to islands in general, and most Finns will imagine different islands on different occasions over the summer.

If you wanted a single specific island, you’d normally use the singular and often the allative (see next question):

• Kesällä menemme joskus saarelle.
  → In the summer we sometimes go to an island / the island.

To make it very clearly “one specific island”, you could add a determiner:

• Kesällä menemme joskus sille saarelle.
  → In the summer we sometimes go to that island.

So:

• saariin – to (some) islands (plural, non‑specific, possibly several)
• saarelle – to (an/the) island (singular, typically one place)

Why saariin (illative) and not saarille (allative) or saarelle?

Both illative (-in: saariin) and allative (-lle: saarille/saarelle) are directional cases:

• illative (saariin, saareen): “into / to the inside/area of”
• allative (saarille, saarelle): “onto / to” (especially surfaces or general area)

With islands, both cases can occur and often feel very close in meaning. Rough guidelines:

• saarelle / saarille → “to the island(s)” with more of a place/surface feeling
• saareen / saariin → “into the island(s)” with more of a territory/area feeling

In practice, you will hear:

• Kesällä menemme saarelle. – very common: We go to an island.
• Kesällä menemme saariin. – We go to islands. (several places over time)

In your sentence, saariin emphasises “various islands” over the summer, and illative is perfectly natural here.

Why is there no separate word for “in” or “to” in this sentence?

Finnish usually expresses what English does with prepositions using case endings on nouns instead:

• kesä-llä → in (the) summer
• saari-in → to / into (the) islands

So instead of saying:

• in summer → in + summer (two words)

Finnish builds it as one word:

• kesällä = kesä (“summer”) + -llä (adessive “at/on/in (time)”)

The same with movement:

• to the islands → to + islands (two words)
• saariin = saari (“island”) + -in (illative plural “into / to (inside)”)

This is completely normal Finnish: the ending carries the meaning of the preposition.

Why is there no separate word for “we” (like me) before menemme?

Finnish verb endings show person and number, so the subject pronoun is usually optional:

• menen = I go
• menet = you (sg.) go
• menee = he/she goes
• menemme = we go
• menette = you (pl.) go
• menevät = they go

Because -mme already means “we”, me menemme would be a bit like saying “we we go”.
You can still add me for emphasis or contrast:

• Me menemme saariin, mutta he jäävät kotiin.
  → We go to the islands, but they stay at home.

In your sentence, Kesällä menemme joskus saariin, the subject is clear from the verb ending, so me is left out.

What tense is menemme, and how can the present tense mean a repeated action like this?

Menemme is present tense, 1st person plural of mennä (“to go”).

Finnish uses the present tense not only for:

• actions happening right now
  
  • Menemme saariin nyt. – We are going to the islands now.

but also for:

• regular / repeated / habitual actions
  
  • Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.
    → In the summer we sometimes go to the islands.

If you wanted past:

• Kesällä menimme joskus saariin.
  → In the summer we sometimes went to the islands.

If you wanted a clear future plan, you still often use present (context gives the future meaning):

• Ensi kesänä menemme saariin.
  → Next summer we will go to (the) islands. (literally “we go”, but understood as future)

Where can joskus go in the sentence? Is its position fixed?

Joskus is quite flexible in word order. All of these are grammatical, with small differences in emphasis:

1. Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.
   – Neutral: In the summer, we sometimes go to islands.

2. Kesällä joskus menemme saariin.
   – Slight emphasis on “sometimes” in relation to the summer.

3. Joskus kesällä menemme saariin.
   – Emphasis on “sometimes in summer” (not every summer, not all the time).

4. Menemme joskus kesällä saariin.
   – Starts from the action “we go”, then adds that it happens sometimes in summer.

General guideline: Finnish allows adverbs like joskus to move around; the choice mostly affects what you’re highlighting (time, frequency, the action) rather than grammaticality.

Does joskus always mean “sometimes”, or can it also mean “someday”?

Joskus has two common uses:

1. “sometimes” (frequency)

   • Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.
     → In the summer we sometimes go to islands.

2. “sometime / someday” (an unspecified moment in the future or past)

   • Mennään sinne joskus.
     → Let’s go there sometime (later).

Context tells you which meaning is intended:

• If it’s with a present tense habitual action (“we sometimes go”), it’s about frequency.
• If it’s more about a single, undefined time in future/past, it’s more like “someday / sometime”.

Why does the sentence start with Kesällä? Could it begin with Menemme instead?

Yes, it could:

• Kesällä menemme joskus saariin.
• Menemme joskus kesällä saariin.

Both are correct. The difference is mostly emphasis and information order:

• Starting with Kesällä highlights the time frame first: As for the summer, in that period we sometimes go to islands.
• Starting with Menemme highlights the action first: We (generally) go sometimes in summer to islands.

Finnish often puts known or background information (like time or place) at the beginning, so Kesällä in first position is very natural.