Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.

Good coffee is served in the café.

Breakdown of Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.

• kahvi: the coffee
• -ssa: in
• kahvila: the café
• hyvä: good
• tarjoilla: to serve

Questions & Answers about Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.

What does kahvilassa mean, and what is the function of -ssa?

Kahvilassa comes from the noun kahvila (a café).

Finnish adds case endings to nouns instead of using prepositions like in or at.

• kahvila = café (basic form)
• kahvilassa = in the café / at the café

The ending -ssa / -ssä is the inessive case, which usually corresponds to in or inside (and very often also at in English translations).

So kahvilassa tells us the location where the action happens: in/at the café.

Why is there no separate word for in or at? Why is it all in kahvilassa?

Finnish normally does not use prepositions like in, at, to in the same way English does. Instead, it uses case endings attached to nouns.

So instead of:

• in the café → preposition + noun (English)

Finnish does:

• kahvila
  • -ssa → kahvilassa

Other common location cases:

• -ssa / -ssä = in (inessive) → talossa (in the house)
• -sta / -stä = out of, from inside (elative) → talosta (out of the house)
• -an / -en / -hin (various forms) = into (illative) → taloon (into the house)

So kahvilassa already includes the idea in/at the café; adding another word for in would be redundant and incorrect.

What exactly is tarjoillaan? Is it a tense or a special form?

Tarjoillaan is the present tense passive form of the verb tarjoilla (to serve).

Breakdown:

• verb: tarjoilla = to serve (especially food/drinks)
• stem: tarjoil-
• passive marker: -taan / -llaan / -dään type, here -laan
• tense: present

So tarjoillaan means something like:

• is served,
• they serve, or
• people serve (in general, without saying who).

It describes an action going on now / generally, but the doer is not specified. That is what the Finnish passive does.

Why is there no subject like they or the café? Who is doing the serving?

In Finnish, the passive is used when:

• The doer is unknown, unimportant, or general (like they, people),
• Or when the focus is more on the action than on who does it.

Tarjoillaan is passive, so there is no explicit subject.

The idea is:

• Good coffee is served in the café.
• or: They serve good coffee in the café.
• or: You can get good coffee in the café.

All of these English versions correspond to the same Finnish structure with tarjoillaan. The café owners or staff are understood from context, but not grammatically expressed.

Could we say kahvila tarjoilee hyvää kahvia instead of kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly.

• Kahvila tarjoilee hyvää kahvia.

  • kahvila = subject (the café)
  • tarjoilee = 3rd person singular present (active)
  • More literally: The café serves good coffee.

• Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.

  • kahvilassa = in the café (location)
  • tarjoillaan = passive
  • More like: Good coffee is served in the café / They serve good coffee in the café.

Differences:

• The first sentence explicitly makes the café the grammatical subject.
• The second uses the passive, focusing on the service happening there rather than on who (or what) is doing it.

Both are natural, but the original (passive + location) is very typical Finnish.

What is the difference between tarjota and tarjoilla?

Both relate to offering/serving, but there is a nuance:

• tarjota

  • base meaning: to offer
  • can be about offering anything: help, a job, a seat, a drink, etc.

• tarjoilla

  • more specifically: to serve (especially food and drinks), often as waiter service or continuous serving activity
  • more typical in restaurant/café contexts

In everyday speech, both can overlap:

• Tarjoillaan kahvia.
• Tarjotaan kahvia.

Both can be understood as coffee is being served/offered, but tarjoilla tends to sound more like the actual serving of food/drink to customers.

Why is it hyvää and not hyvä in hyvää kahvia?

Hyvää is the partitive singular form of the adjective hyvä (good).

Adjectives in Finnish agree with the noun they describe in:

• case
• number

The noun kahvia is in the partitive singular, so the adjective must also be in partitive singular:

• basic forms:
  • hyvä kahvi = (grammatical base forms)
• partitive singular:
  • hyvää kahvia

So:

• hyvää (partitive singular) matches kahvia (partitive singular). That is why you cannot say hyvä kahvia here; it would be ungrammatical.

Why is kahvia used and not kahvi?

Kahvia is the partitive singular of kahvi (coffee).

There are two main reasons:

1. Mass / uncountable noun

   • When talking about an unspecified amount of a substance (coffee, water, sugar), Finnish usually uses the partitive:
     • kahvia = some coffee
     • vettä = some water
     • sokeria = some sugar

   So hyvää kahvia means good coffee in the sense of good-quality coffee (not a specific cup).

2. Object in partitive

   • With many verbs, when the object is indefinite or not a complete, finished quantity, Finnish uses partitive.
   • Tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia is about serving coffee in general, not a specific, clearly limited amount.

So kahvia fits both as:

• a mass noun,
• and an indefinite object of the verb tarjoillaan.

What is the difference in meaning between hyvää kahvia and hyvä kahvi?

The difference is subtle but important:

• hyvää kahvia (partitive)

  • usually means good coffee in general, as a substance or drink,
  • implies some good coffee, good-quality coffee, not a specific single unit.

• hyvä kahvi (nominative)

  • more like a good coffee or the good coffee as a specific item, e.g. a particular cup, a specific brand, or a particular type.

Examples of use:

• Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.
  • The café generally serves good coffee (good-quality coffee).
• Tämä on hyvä kahvi.
  • This is a good coffee (this particular cup, type, or brand).

So the original sentence uses hyvää kahvia because it talks about what they serve in general, not about one specific cup.

Could I say Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvä kahvi instead?

No, that would be ungrammatical in normal Finnish.

Reasons:

1. The object of tarjoillaan here is indefinite and mass-like (coffee), so the noun should be in partitive: kahvia, not kahvi.
2. The adjective must agree in case with the noun:
   • hyvää kahvia (both partitive singular) ✔
   • hyvä kahvi (both nominative singular) ✔
   • hyvä kahvia or hyvää kahvi ✘ (mismatch)

So you either talk about:

• hyvää kahvia (good coffee in general), or
• hyvä kahvi (a good coffee as a specific item),

but you must keep the forms consistent.

Is the word order fixed, or can I say Hyvää kahvia tarjoillaan kahvilassa?

You can absolutely change the word order:

• Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.
• Hyvää kahvia tarjoillaan kahvilassa.

Both are grammatically correct.

Finnish word order is relatively flexible. Changing the order often changes:

• Emphasis
• What is “old” vs “new” information in the sentence

Nuance:

• Kahvilassa tarjoillaan hyvää kahvia.
  • Slight focus on in the café; we are talking about that place.
• Hyvää kahvia tarjoillaan kahvilassa.
  • Slight focus on good coffee; we emphasize what is being served.

But the basic meaning remains the same.

Does kahvilassa mean in or at? Which preposition is correct in English?

Kahvilassa literally corresponds more to in the café, because -ssa is the inessive (inside).

However, in natural English, depending on context we might say either:

• in the café (if we imagine the interior space), or
• at the café (if we are talking more generally about the place as a business or meeting point).

Finnish does not distinguish in vs at here the way English does. Kahvilassa conveniently covers both English possibilities; the best translation depends on what sounds most idiomatic in English context.