Learn Hardcore Finnish: Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.

Jokainen oppilas is treated as one unit: jokainen (each) + oppilas (pupil), both singular.
The verb must agree with that singular subject, so you use saa (3rd person singular), not saavat (3rd person plural).

So:

✅ Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
❌ Jokainen oppilas saavat todistuksen.

Why is it jokainen oppilas (singular) and not jokaiset oppilaat (plural)?

After jokainen, the noun is always in the singular:

jokainen oppilas = each / every pupil
not jokaiset oppilaat (this is ungrammatical in standard Finnish)

Think of jokainen X as “each individual X” — you’re conceptually pointing at one member at a time, so Finnish keeps the noun singular.

What exactly does jokainen mean, and how is it different from kaikki and joka?

jokainen = each, every (one)
- Focuses on individuals, one by one.
- Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
  → “Each / Every pupil gets a certificate.”
kaikki = all
- Refers to the whole group as a collective.
- Kaikki oppilaat saavat todistuksen.
  → “All the pupils get a certificate.”
joka = who/which (as a relative pronoun) or every in certain time/space expressions:
- Oppilas, joka saa todistuksen… = “A pupil who gets a certificate…”
- joka päivä = every day

So, jokainen is the “each/every” word that directly quantifies a noun, like jokainen oppilas.

What case is todistuksen, and why does it end in -n instead of just todistus?

Todistuksen is in the accusative singular (formally identical to the genitive singular: todistuksen).

Accusative is used for a total object in a completed action: the whole certificate is received.

Base form (nominative): todistus – “certificate”
Genitive/accusative singular: todistuksen

In this sentence the structure is:

Subject: jokainen oppilas
Verb: saa
Object: todistuksen (what they get)

You cannot use the bare todistus as an object here:

❌ Jokainen oppilas saa todistus. (wrong)

Could we use the partitive todistusta instead of todistuksen?

Not naturally in this context.

Todistuksen (accusative) presents the object as whole and complete → each pupil gets one whole certificate.

Todistusta (partitive) would suggest:

an incomplete or ongoing action, or
only some undefined “amount” of certificate

So:

✅ Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
❌ Jokainen oppilas saa todistusta. (would sound wrong or at least very odd)

Can I say Kaikki oppilaat saavat todistuksen instead? Does it mean the same?

Very close in meaning, but not identical in nuance:

Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
- “Each / every pupil gets a certificate.”
- Slight focus on distribution: individually, one per pupil.
Kaikki oppilaat saavat todistuksen.
- “All (the) pupils get a certificate.”
- Focus on the group as a whole.

In everyday speech, both normally imply that everyone gets their own certificate.

If everyone gets their own certificate, why doesn’t the sentence show “own” or “their”?

Finnish often leaves possession implicit if it’s obvious from context.

Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
→ by default understood as “each pupil gets his/her own certificate”.

If you want to make it explicit, you can say:

Jokainen oppilas saa oman todistuksensa.
- oman = “own”
- todistuksensa = “his/her/their certificate” (with a possessive suffix)

The simple sentence without oma or a possessive suffix is still natural and usually not ambiguous in this context.

What is the verb saa exactly? Which form of saada is it?

The verb is saada = “to get / receive / be allowed to”.

In the sentence, saa is:

tense: present
person/number: 3rd person singular
indicative mood

Mini paradigm (present indicative):

(minä) saan
(sinä) saat
(hän / se) saa
(me) saamme
(te) saatte
(he / ne) saavat

So we use saa because the subject (jokainen oppilas) is singular.

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Todistuksen saa jokainen oppilas?

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and you can move elements for emphasis:

Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen.
→ neutral: “Each pupil gets a certificate.”
Todistuksen saa jokainen oppilas.
→ emphasizes todistuksen: “A certificate is what each pupil will get.”

Both are correct. However, some orders are unnatural or change the meaning:

❌ Oppilas jokainen saa todistuksen. (unnatural in standard Finnish)
❌ Oppilas saa jokaisen todistuksen.
→ means “The pupil gets every certificate,” i.e., one pupil gets all certificates – different meaning.

What does oppilas mean exactly, and is it different from opiskelija?

Yes, they differ slightly:

oppilas
- usually “pupil” (especially in basic/primary/secondary school)
- typical context: children and teenagers in school
opiskelija
- “student” (often in higher education, like university or vocational school)

So Jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen. naturally refers to school pupils rather than university students.

Why doesn’t Finnish use any article like “a” or “the” before oppilas or todistus?

Finnish has no articles (no words like a, an, the).

Definiteness and indefiniteness are usually understood from:

word order,
context,
case endings,
and sometimes pronouns or adjectives if needed.

So:

oppilas can mean a pupil or the pupil,
todistus / todistuksen can mean a certificate or the certificate.

In this sentence, the natural English translation uses a:
“Each pupil gets a certificate.”

How does jokainen decline in other cases, for example in “for every pupil” or “from every pupil”?

Jokainen behaves like a pronoun and has its own declension, while the noun after it is also declined separately.

Some useful cases (singular):

Nominative: jokainen oppilas
→ each/every pupil
Genitive: jokaisen oppilaan
→ of every pupil
Partitive: jokaista oppilasta
→ every pupil (as object/after some prepositions/verbs)
Allative (to): jokaiselle oppilaalle
→ to every pupil
Elative (from): jokaisesta oppilaasta
→ from every pupil

Example:

Annan palautetta jokaiselle oppilaalle.
→ “I give feedback to every pupil.”

Is there any ambiguity about number? Could todistuksen mean more than one certificate?

Grammatically, todistuksen is singular, so it refers to one certificate per pupil.

What could be ambiguous in some Finnish sentences is whether:

one certificate is shared by the group, or
each individual has one.

But with jokainen oppilas saa todistuksen, the jokainen structure very strongly implies:

each individual pupil → one certificate each.