Learn Hardcore Finnish: Harjoituksen jälkeen koko joukkue venyttelee kentän reunalla. - After the practice the whole team stretches at the edge of the field.

[genitive] + jälkeen = after [something]
- harjoituksen jälkeen = after (the) practice
- pelin jälkeen = after the game
- työn jälkeen = after work

So you must use harjoituksen, not the plain harjoitus, after jälkeen.

What kind of word is jälkeen, and why does it come after the noun instead of before like “after practice”?

Jälkeen is a postposition.

English usually uses prepositions: after practice
Finnish often uses postpositions: harjoituksen jälkeen (literally “practice’s after”)

Structure:

[noun in genitive] + jälkeen

Examples:

tunnin jälkeen = after the lesson
ruoan jälkeen = after the food / meal
pelin jälkeen = after the game

So the position is reversed compared to English: in Finnish, jälkeen comes after, not before, the noun.

Could it also be harjoitusten jälkeen instead of harjoituksen jälkeen?

Yes, both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

harjoituksen jälkeen
- literally: after the practice (one specific session)
- often used when referring to this particular practice today.
harjoitusten jälkeen
- harjoitusten = plural genitive “of the practices/trainings”
- can mean after practices (in general), for example in a routine description:
  - Harjoitusten jälkeen koko joukkue aina venyttelee.
    After practices, the whole team always stretches.

In many contexts they overlap; context and adverbs like aina (always) will show whether it’s a specific occasion or a regular habit.

What does koko mean here, and does it affect the form of joukkue?

koko means “the whole / the entire”.

joukkue = team
koko joukkue = the whole team / the entire team

Grammatically:

koko itself does not inflect; the noun after it carries the case and number:
- koko joukkue (nom. sing.)
- koko joukkueen (gen. sing.)
- koko joukkueella (adessive sing.)

Here koko joukkue is the subject, and it’s singular, so the verb is also singular (venyttelee).

Why is the verb venyttelee singular when we’re talking about many people (the whole team)?

Because in Finnish, the verb agrees with the grammatical subject, not with the “real-world” number of people.

The subject is joukkue = “team”, which is one team (singular).
koko only emphasizes it: koko joukkue (“the whole team”), still grammatically singular.
Therefore the verb is 3rd person singular: venyttelee.

This matches English:

“The whole team stretches.” (singular verb “stretches”, not “stretch”)

Could I say koko joukkue venyttelevät with a plural verb?

In standard Finnish, no. With koko + singular noun, the verb should be singular:

✅ Koko joukkue venyttelee.
❌ Koko joukkue venyttelevät.

You might hear similar plural agreement in some colloquial speech with other kinds of plural-like subjects, but for koko joukkue, singular is the correct and natural standard form.

How do you conjugate venytellä, and what’s the difference between venytellä, venyttää, and venyä?

Venyttellä is a type 3 verb (-ella/-ellä). Present tense:

minä venyttelen – I stretch (do stretching exercises)
sinä venyttelet
hän venyttelee
me venyttelemme
te venyttelette
he venyttelevät

Differences between the verbs:

venytellä
- intransitive, often reflexive: to stretch oneself, to do stretching exercises
- neutral, common for post-exercise stretching.
venyttää
- transitive: to stretch something
- e.g. venyttää lihaksia = to stretch (one’s) muscles
- also metaphorical: venyttää totuutta = “to stretch the truth”.
venyä
- intransitive: to be stretched, to get longer (by itself)
- e.g. Paita venyy pesussa. = The shirt stretches in the wash.

In this sentence, the team is stretching themselves, so venytellä fits best.

Why is the present tense venyttelee used instead of a past tense?

Finnish uses the present tense for several meanings:

Right now / currently:
- Koko joukkue venyttelee. = The whole team is stretching (now).
Repeated / habitual actions (what usually happens):
- Harjoituksen jälkeen koko joukkue venyttelee kentän reunalla.
  Often understood as “After practice, the whole team (typically) stretch(es) at the edge of the field.”

If you specifically wanted a single, completed event in the past, you’d use the past:

Harjoituksen jälkeen koko joukkue venytteli kentän reunalla.
= After (that) practice, the whole team stretched at the edge of the field.

What does kentän reunalla literally mean, including the endings?

Breakdown:

kenttä = field, pitch
kentän = of the field (genitive singular)
reuna = edge, side
reunalla = on/at the edge (adessive singular: -lla/-llä)

So kentän reunalla is literally:

“on/at the edge of the field”

Structure:

[owner in genitive] + [thing] + [locative case]
- kentän (of the field) + reuna (edge) + -lla (on/at)
- → kentän reunalla = at the edge of the field.

What is the difference between kenttä and kentän, and what is happening to the consonants?

kenttä is the base form (nominative).
kentän is the genitive: of the field.

Two things happen:

Case ending
- genitive adds -n: kenttä → kentän.
Consonant gradation
- tt → t when you add certain endings.
- This is a regular pattern:
  - matto → maton (carpet → of the carpet)
  - katu → kadun (street → of the street)
  - kenttä → kentän (field → of the field)

So kentän is just the normal genitive form of kenttä, with consonant gradation.

Could you also say just kentällä instead of kentän reunalla? Would the meaning change?

Yes, you can, and the meaning changes slightly.

kentällä
- adessive of kenttä: “on the field / at the field”
- more general location: somewhere on the field area.
kentän reunalla
- more specific: “at the edge/side of the field”
- suggests they’re not in the middle, but along the boundary.

Both are grammatically fine, but kentän reunalla is more precise about where they’re stretching.

Can you change the word order in this sentence? For example, put harjoituksen jälkeen at the end?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible; you mostly adjust it for emphasis or information structure, not for grammar.

The original:

Harjoituksen jälkeen koko joukkue venyttelee kentän reunalla.

Possible variants (all grammatical):

Koko joukkue venyttelee harjoituksen jälkeen kentän reunalla.
Koko joukkue venyttelee kentän reunalla harjoituksen jälkeen.
Kentän reunalla koko joukkue venyttelee harjoituksen jälkeen.

Differences:

The part you put first usually gets more emphasis or is treated as known information.
The basic meaning (who, what, where, when) stays the same in all these versions.

Are there other common expressions that use the pattern [genitive] + jälkeen?

Yes, many everyday expressions use this same structure:

töiden jälkeen = after work
koulun jälkeen = after school
ruoan jälkeen = after the meal
kokouksen jälkeen = after the meeting
illan jälkeen = after the evening / the next day (context-dependent)

Pattern to remember:

[something in genitive] + jälkeen = “after [something]”

Your sentence just uses the same pattern: harjoituksen jälkeen = after practice.