Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.

Friday is my favourite day.

Breakdown of Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.

• olla: to be
• minun: my
• päivä: the day
• lempi: favorite
• perjantai: the Friday

Questions & Answers about Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.

What does the word lempipäiväni consist of, and what does each part mean?

Lempipäiväni is one word but made of three parts:

• lempi = favourite
• päivä = day
• -ni = my (1st person singular possessive suffix)

So literally: lempi-päivä-ni → my favourite day.

Why do we have both minun and the ending -ni? Don’t they both mean my?

Yes, both minun and -ni express possession (my):

• minun = the independent pronoun my / mine
• -ni = possessive suffix meaning my

In Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni, this “double marking” is normal and fully correct in standard Finnish. It can add a bit of clarity or emphasis, but grammatically it’s just the usual way to show that lempipäivä belongs to minä (I).

Can I leave out minun, or can I leave out the -ni ending?

Yes, but the style/register changes:

1. Drop the pronoun, keep the suffix (standard, slightly more compact):

   • Perjantai on lempipäiväni.
     = Friday is my favourite day.

2. Keep the pronoun, drop the suffix (very common in spoken Finnish, less formal in writing):

   • Perjantai on minun lempipäivä.

3. Drop both (ungrammatical here, it would lose the “my” meaning):

   • Perjantai on lempipäivä.
     This sounds like “Friday is a favourite day” (in general), not specifically mine.

For standard written Finnish, (1) or the original (pronoun + suffix) are preferred.

Can I change the word order, for example to Minun lempipäiväni on perjantai? Does it change the meaning?

You can, and the basic meaning stays the same:

• Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.
• Minun lempipäiväni on perjantai.

Both mean Friday is my favourite day.

Subtle difference in emphasis:

• Starting with Perjantai puts focus on Friday (we’re talking about Friday, and telling something about it).
• Starting with Minun lempipäiväni puts focus on my favourite day (and then we reveal that it’s Friday).

Both are natural and correct.

Why are Perjantai and lempipäiväni in the basic form (nominative) and not in some case like partitive?

This is the typical X is Y sentence with the verb olla (to be):

• Perjantai (subject) – nominative
• lempipäiväni (predicative/complement) – also nominative

In Finnish, when you say something like X is Y in a clear, complete way (identity or classification), both sides are normally in nominative:

• Helsinki on iso kaupunki. – Helsinki is a big city.
• Hän on opettaja. – He/She is a teacher.
• Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni. – Friday is my favourite day.

You would use other cases (often partitive) if the meaning were incomplete, about quantity, or about “being something in some respect”, but here it’s a simple identity.

How would I say Fridays are my favourite days or Friday is my favourite day of the week in Finnish?

Some natural options:

• Fridays are my favourite days.

  • Perjantait ovat lempipäiviäni.
    (Perjantait = Fridays, lempipäiviäni = my favourite days, partitive plural + -ni)
  • More explicit: Perjantait ovat minun lempipäiviäni.

• Friday is my favourite day of the week.

  • Perjantai on lempipäiväni viikossa.
  • Or more idiomatically: Perjantai on viikon lempipäiväni.
    (literally: “the week’s favourite day of mine”)

All of these are correct; word order can move a bit for emphasis.

Why is the verb on used here instead of olla?

Olla is the infinitive form of the verb to be, like to be in English.

Finnish conjugates olla:

• minä olen – I am
• sinä olet – you are
• hän on – he/she is
• se on – it is
• perjantai on – Friday is

So in Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni, on is simply the 3rd person singular present form of olla, matching the subject Perjantai.

Why is Perjantai capitalized here? Are days of the week always capitalized in Finnish?

Days of the week in Finnish are normally not capitalized in the middle of a sentence:

• perjantai – Friday
• maanantai – Monday, etc.

In Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni, Perjantai is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence. That’s the normal capitalization rule.

So:

• Middle of a sentence: Pidän perjantaista.
• Start of a sentence: Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.

Is there a difference between lempipäivä and suosikkipäivä?

Both can be translated as favourite day, but:

• lempi- is a very common, neutral prefix meaning favourite.
  
  • lempiruoka (favourite food), lempikirja (favourite book)
• suosikki literally means a favourite / one that you favour, and suosikki- used like an adjective also works, but sounds a bit more informal or influenced by spoken language.

So:

• Perjantai on lempipäiväni. – Very natural, standard.
• Perjantai on suosikkipäiväni. – Understandable and acceptable, slightly different nuance / style.

In everyday speech, both can appear, but lempipäivä is the textbook-standard one.

How would this sentence sound in casual spoken Finnish?

In informal spoken Finnish, people often:

• Use mä instead of minä
• Drop the possessive suffix -ni
• Shorten some sounds

Typical spoken versions:

• Perjantai on mun lempipäivä.
• Perjantai on mun lempparipäivä. (with lemppari- as a slangy “fave”)

So:

• Standard: Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni.
• Everyday spoken: Perjantai on mun lempipäivä.

How do you pronounce Perjantai on minun lempipäiväni? Where is the stress?

Basic pronunciation (rough guide using English-like spelling):

• Perjantai ≈ PEHR-yan-tie (like English “tie”)
• on ≈ on (like British “on”)
• minun ≈ MEE-noon (but i is short, not long)
• lempipäiväni ≈ LEMP-ee-pai-va-nee
  
  • ä is like the a in “cat”
  • päi = “pai” as in “pie”

Stress in Finnish is always on the first syllable of each word:

• PER-jan-tai on MI-nun LEM-pi-päi-vä-ni

Secondary stress may fall on later odd-numbered syllables, but for a learner, focusing on strong first-syllable stress for each word is enough.