Breakdown of Työkaverini haluaa osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna.
Questions & Answers about Työkaverini haluaa osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna.
Työkaverini is made of three parts:
- työ = work
- kaveri = friend, buddy
- työkaveri = work-friend → coworker / colleague
- -ni = my (possessive suffix)
So työkaverini literally means “my coworker / my colleague”.
Grammatically, in this sentence it is in the nominative case and functions as the subject of the sentence.
You do not need minun here; työkaverini alone is perfectly correct and quite natural.
Options:
- Työkaverini haluaa… = My coworker wants…
- Minun työkaverini haluaa… = My coworker wants… (slightly more emphatic: my coworker in particular)
In normal, neutral sentences, Finnish often uses just the possessive suffix without the pronoun.
Spoken, colloquial Finnish very often drops the suffix instead and keeps only the pronoun:
- Mun työkaveri haluaa… (colloquial: mun instead of minun, no -ni)
In formal or standard written Finnish, either:
- työkaverini
- minun työkaverini
is good; minun työkaveri without -ni is more colloquial.
Formally, työkaverini can mean either:
- my coworker (singular)
- my coworkers (plural)
The form is the same in the nominative. The verb tells you which is meant:
- Työkaverini haluaa… → haluaa is 3rd person singular → my coworker wants…
- Työkaverini haluavat… → haluavat is 3rd person plural → my coworkers want…
So:
- Työkaverini haluaa osallistua… = My coworker wants to participate…
- Työkaverini haluavat osallistua… = My coworkers want to participate…
If you want to be very clearly plural, you can also add something like:
- Kaikki työkaverini haluavat osallistua… = All my coworkers want to participate…
The verb haluta (to want) normally takes another verb in the basic infinitive form (the so‑called “1st infinitive”):
- haluaa osallistua = wants to participate
- haluaa mennä = wants to go
- haluaa oppia = wants to learn
So after haluaa, you use osallistua (the dictionary form), not a case-inflected form like osallistumaan.
Osallistumaan is the illative of the 3rd infinitive and is used with verbs of movement or beginning, e.g.:
- Hän menee osallistumaan seminaariin.
= He/She goes to participate in the seminar. - Hän alkaa osallistumaan enemmän. (colloquial, more standard: alkaa osallistua)
= He/She starts participating more.
In your sentence there is no motion verb like mennä (to go), so the correct structure is:
- haluaa osallistua (want + basic infinitive)
Osallistua is the 1st infinitive, often thought of as the “dictionary form” of the verb (similar to English “to participate”).
In Finnish, several verbs are followed by another verb in this basic infinitive form. Typical examples:
- haluta osallistua – to want to participate
- voida osallistua – to be able to participate
- aikoa osallistua – to intend to participate
- yrittää osallistua – to try to participate
So haluaa osallistua is the standard “want + infinitive” construction:
[subject] + haluaa + [infinitive].
Seminaariin is the illative case, which often means “into / to (inside)” or “to (an event)”.
- base form: seminaari = seminar
- illative: seminaariin = to the seminar / into the seminar
The general pattern for vowel-final words is that the last vowel is doubled and -n is added:
- talo → taloon (to the house)
- kahvila → kahvilaan (to the café)
- seminaari → seminaariin (to the seminar)
With osallistua, Finnish uses the illative to mark what you are joining / participating in:
- osallistua seminaariin = to participate in the seminar
- osallistua kilpailuun = to participate in the competition
- osallistua projektiin = to participate in the project
Seminaarissa (inessive) would mean “in the seminar” (physically in it), which is not the standard structure after osallistua. You normally “participate into” something in Finnish, grammatically speaking.
Yes. Many verbs that involve joining / entering / enrolling in something use the illative (-in / -seen / -hVn) for the target:
- ilmoittautua kurssille = to register for a course
- mennä seminaariin = to go to the seminar
- liittyä ryhmään = to join a group
- päästä yliopistoon = to get into university
So with events and similar targets, “X + illative” is very common:
- osallistua seminaariin
- mennä juhliin (to go to a party/parties)
- ilmoittautua kilpailuun (to sign up for a competition)
Viikonloppuna is in the essive case (-na / -nä).
- viikonloppu = weekend
- viikonloppuna = on / during the weekend
The essive has several uses; one of them is in time expressions, especially for a specific day or period:
- maanantaina = on Monday
- jouluna = at Christmas
- syksynä (less common, more literary) = in the autumn
- viikonloppuna = on the weekend
So seminaariin viikonloppuna literally feels like “to the seminar during the weekend”.
If you want to say something like “on weekends (regularly)”, you’d use a different form:
- viikonloppuisin = on weekends, at weekends (habitually)
Yes. Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements for emphasis or style. All of these are grammatically fine:
- Työkaverini haluaa osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna.
- Viikonloppuna työkaverini haluaa osallistua seminaariin.
- Työkaverini haluaa viikonloppuna osallistua seminaariin.
- Seminaariin työkaverini haluaa osallistua viikonloppuna. (strong emphasis on seminaariin)
The basic neutral order here is subject–verb–(infinitive)–object–time:
Työkaverini haluaa osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna.
Putting viikonloppuna first often gives it slight emphasis: As for the weekend, my coworker wants to participate in the seminar.
To negate it, you use the negative verb ei and change haluaa to the connegative form halua:
- Työkaverini ei halua osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna.
= My coworker does not want to participate in the seminar on the weekend.
Pattern:
- positive: hän haluaa
- negative: hän ei halua
The rest of the sentence (osallistua seminaariin viikonloppuna) stays the same.