Katsomo on tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.

The stands are empty after the practice.

Breakdown of Katsomo on tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.

• olla: to be
• jälkeen: after
• tyhjä: empty
• harjoitus: the practice
• katsomo: the stand

Questions & Answers about Katsomo on tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.

In this sentence, what exactly does katsomo mean? Is it “audience” or “seats” or “stadium”?

Katsomo means the seating area / stands, i.e. the place where people sit to watch (the rows of seats, bleachers, stand).

It does not mean “the audience” as people. For that, Finnish usually uses:

• yleisö = the audience, the crowd (the people watching)
• katsojat = the watchers, spectators (individual people)

So:

• Katsomo on tyhjä. = The stands / seating area are empty.
• Yleisö on lähtenyt. = The audience has left.
• Katsojat lähtevät kotiin. = The spectators go home.

Why is it katsomo on tyhjä, not katsomo on tyhjää or tyhjän?

In Finnish, when you describe what the subject is (a state or quality), the adjective normally appears in the nominative and agrees with the subject in number and case.

• katsomo = nominative singular
• tyhjä = nominative singular adjective

So:

• Katsomo on tyhjä. = The stands are empty.

Other forms would be used in different structures:

• tyhjää (partitive) would appear in things like:
  • Siellä on tyhjää. = It’s empty there.
    (Here there’s no concrete singular noun like katsomo as the subject.)
• tyhjän (genitive) would be used in:
  • tyhjän katsomon valot = the lights of the empty stands

In your sentence, katsomo is a normal singular subject, so the predicate adjective stays in nominative: tyhjä.

What case is harjoituksen, and why is it used here?

Harjoituksen is in the genitive singular form of harjoitus (“practice, training session, exercise”).

The postposition jälkeen (“after”) always takes its complement in the genitive:

• harjoitus → harjoituksen jälkeen = after the practice
• peli → pelin jälkeen = after the game
• työ → työn jälkeen = after work

So the structure is:

• [genitive] + jälkeen = after [something]

Is jälkeen a preposition like English “after”?

Grammatically, jälkeen is a postposition, not a preposition.

• In English: after practice
• In Finnish: harjoituksen jälkeen
  (literally “practice’s after” – noun in genitive + jälkeen)

So the word jälkeen comes after the noun it relates to, not before it. It always requires the noun (or pronoun) in the genitive case:

• minun jälkeen = after me
• tunnin jälkeen = after the lesson
• harjoituksen jälkeen = after the practice

Can I change the word order, for example: Harjoituksen jälkeen katsomo on tyhjä? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order, and it is very natural:

• Katsomo on tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.
• Harjoituksen jälkeen katsomo on tyhjä.

Both are correct and mean the same thing. The difference is just emphasis:

• Starting with Katsomo emphasizes the state of the stands.
• Starting with Harjoituksen jälkeen emphasizes the time (“after practice”).

Finnish word order is quite flexible, especially for adverbial phrases of time and place like harjoituksen jälkeen.

Could I say Harjoituksen jälkeen katsomo tyhjenee instead of katsomo on tyhjä? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, but the meaning changes slightly:

• Katsomo on tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.
  = The stands are empty after the practice (state/result).

• Harjoituksen jälkeen katsomo tyhjenee.
  = After the practice the stands empty / are emptied (process, change).

So:

• on tyhjä describes a state (the situation at that time).
• tyhjenee (verb) describes a process of becoming empty.

Both are correct, but they focus on different aspects: result vs. change.

What exactly does harjoitus mean here? Is it “exercise” or “training” or “rehearsal”?

Harjoitus is a general word for practice, training, exercise, rehearsal, depending on context:

• sports practice / training
• music rehearsal
• language exercise

In your sentence, the context decides:

• In a sports context: practice / training
• In a theatre or music context: rehearsal

Colloquially, Finns also say:

• treenit (plural, slangy) = practice, training
• harjoitukset (plural) = practices, drills, exercises

But harjoitus (singular) is a neutral, standard word.

How would you say “before the practice” in Finnish, to match “after the practice”?

You would use the preposition ennen:

• ennen harjoitusta = before the practice

Notice the case difference:

• ennen (“before”) takes the partitive: harjoitusta
• jälkeen (“after”) takes the genitive: harjoituksen

So:

• Ennen harjoitusta katsomo ei ole tyhjä.
  = Before the practice the stands are not empty.
• Harjoituksen jälkeen katsomo on tyhjä.
  = After the practice the stands are empty.

Why do we need the verb on here? Could Finnish leave out “is” like some other languages do?

No, in standard Finnish you must use the verb olla (“to be”) as a linking verb between the subject and its description:

• Katsomo on tyhjä. = The stands are empty.

Leaving on out (Katsomo tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen) is not correct in normal Finnish (it might sound like telegraphic notes or a headline).

So, unlike some languages that can drop “to be” in the present tense, Finnish keeps olla:

• Hän on opettaja. = He/She is a teacher.
• Taivas on sininen. = The sky is blue.
• Katsomo on tyhjä. = The stands are empty.

How would I make this sentence negative: “The stands are not empty after the practice”?

Use the negative verb ei plus olla:

Singular katsomo:

• Katsomo ei ole tyhjä harjoituksen jälkeen.
  = The stands are not empty after the practice.

If you wanted a plural subject (more natural in some English contexts, “the stands” as multiple sections), you could also say:

• Katsomot eivät ole tyhjät harjoituksen jälkeen.
  
  • katsomot = stands (plural)
  • eivät ole = are not
  • tyhjät = empty (nominative plural, agreeing with katsomot)

So the pattern is:

• [subject] + ei/et/ei… + ole + [adjective in nominative agreeing with the subject].