Learn Hardcore Finnish: Teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan. - I make food at home instead of going to the restaurant.

Ruokaa is in the partitive case. With verbs like tehdä (“to make/do”), a mass noun or an indefinite amount is usually in the partitive:

Teen ruokaa. = I make/cook (some) food.
Teen ruoan. = I make the food / I make the meal (a specific, complete item).

So ruokaa suggests “food in general / some food”, not one clearly defined, completed portion. That’s why ruokaa is more natural here.

Why is there no I (minä) in the sentence? Why not Minä teen ruokaa kotona?

Finnish normally omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:

teen = I do / I make
teet = you (sg) do
tekee = he/she does

So Teen ruokaa kotona already clearly means “I cook food at home.”

You can add minä for emphasis or contrast:

Minä teen ruokaa kotona, en sinä. = I cook at home, not you.

But in neutral, everyday Finnish, leaving minä out is more natural.

What exactly does sen sijaan että mean, and how is it built?

Sen sijaan että is a fixed conjunction-like expression meaning “instead of / rather than (doing something).”

Literally:

sen = “its” (genitive form of se, “it/that”)
sijaan = “into (its) place”
että = “that” (a subordinator introducing a clause)

Together: sen sijaan että ≈ “in its place that…”, but you should learn it as a single unit: “instead of (the fact) that …”

Structure:

Main clause
- sen sijaan että
  - full finite clause

Example:

Teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan.
I cook at home instead of (the fact that) I go to a restaurant.

So after sen sijaan että you normally use a personal verb form (like menen), not an infinitive.

In English we say “instead of going to a restaurant.” Why is it että menen ravintolaan, not something like mennä ravintolaan?

English often uses -ing forms after “instead of”:

instead of going to a restaurant

Finnish doesn’t use a direct equivalent like that here. After sen sijaan että, you use a normal clause with a conjugated verb:

sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan = instead of (the fact that) I go to a restaurant

An infinitive like mennä ravintolaan after sen sijaan would sound wrong or at least very odd in standard Finnish. The pattern is:

Teen X sen sijaan että teen Y.

Could I also say Teen ruokaa kotona enkä mene ravintolaan? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can:

Teen ruokaa kotona enkä mene ravintolaan.
= I cook food at home and (I) don’t go to a restaurant.

Differences:

sen sijaan että… explicitly emphasizes a choice/alternative: doing one thing instead of another.
enkä mene… simply connects a positive statement with a negative one (“I do this, and I don’t do that”), without highlighting the idea of replacement as strongly.

Both are correct; sen sijaan että sounds a bit more like “I choose X rather than Y.”

Why is it kotona and not kotiin or kotoa?

Finnish uses different case forms of koti (“home”) to express location and direction:

kotona (inessive) = at home (static location)
kotiin (illative) = to home, home(ward) (movement towards home)
kotoa (elative) = from home (movement away from home)

In this sentence, the action happens at home:

Teen ruokaa kotona. = I cook food at home.

So the inessive kotona is the right choice.

Why is it ravintolaan and not ravintolassa?

Both are forms of ravintola (“restaurant”), but with different meanings:

ravintolaan (illative) = into / to the restaurant (direction towards)
ravintolassa (inessive) = in the restaurant (location in)

In että menen ravintolaan, the verb mennä (“to go”) describes movement towards a place, so you use the illative ravintolaan:

Menen ravintolaan. = I go to the restaurant.
Olen ravintolassa. = I am in the restaurant.

Is sen sijaan että the only way to say “instead of” here?

No, there are other options. Common alternatives:

Mieluummin kuin (“rather than”):
- Teen ruokaa kotona mieluummin kuin menen ravintolaan.
A simpler contrast with enkä:
- Teen ruokaa kotona enkä mene ravintolaan.

Nuance:

sen sijaan että and mieluummin kuin both clearly express preference/alternative.
enkä just states two facts (do X, don’t do Y) with weaker emphasis on the idea of replacement.

Can Teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan also mean “I will cook at home instead of going to a restaurant”?

Yes. Finnish present tense often covers both present and near future, depending on context:

Huomenna teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan.
= Tomorrow I will cook at home instead of going to a restaurant.

There is no separate “will” form; future meaning is usually clear from time expressions (like huomenna, “tomorrow”) or context.

Should there be a comma before että: sen sijaan, että menen ravintolaan?

You will see both:

Teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan, että menen ravintolaan.
Teen ruokaa kotona sen sijaan että menen ravintolaan.

Traditional punctuation rules often recommend a comma before että when it starts a subordinate clause, so the first version is very safe in formal writing.

However, many modern texts omit the comma in fixed multiword conjunctions like sen sijaan että, and the second version is also widely accepted, especially in less formal contexts.

For learning purposes, you can remember:
using the comma (sen sijaan, että…) is always acceptable and often preferred in careful written Finnish.