Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.

The café fills up quickly on the weekend.

Breakdown of Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.

• kahvila: the café
• viikonloppuna: on the weekend
• nopeasti: quickly
• täyttyä: to fill up

Questions & Answers about Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.

What is the verb täyttyy here – what is its basic form and literal meaning?

Täyttyy is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb täyttyä.

• täyttyä = to become full, to fill up (by itself)
• kahvila täyttyy = the café becomes full / the café fills up

So the sentence literally means:
Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna. = The café fills up quickly on the weekend.

What is the difference between täyttyä and täyttää?

They are a very common and important pair:

• täyttää (transitive) = to fill something

  • Minä täytän kupin. = I fill the cup.
  • Needs an object (what is filled).

• täyttyä (intransitive) = to become full, to get filled

  • Kuppi täyttyy. = The cup gets full / fills up.
  • No object; the subject is the thing that becomes full.

In Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna, the café itself is becoming full, so täyttyä is the correct verb.

Is täyttyy the same as täytyy (as in “must”)? They sound similar.

They are different verbs and mean very different things:

• täyttyä – täyttyy = to become full – becomes full / fills up

  • Kahvila täyttyy. = The café fills up.

• täytyä – täytyy = must, have to (impersonal)

  • Minun täytyy mennä. = I must go.

Pronunciation:

• täyttyy has a double consonant tt and double y: [ˈtæy̯tːyː]
• täytyy has a single t: [ˈtæy̯tyː]

In your sentence it must be täyttyy, not täytyy.

What tense is täyttyy? Why is Finnish present tense used where English might say “gets full” or “will get full”?

Täyttyy is present tense, 3rd person singular.

Finnish present tense is flexible and often covers:

• Current / general facts:
  
  • Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.
    = The café gets full quickly on the weekend. (habitual)
• Near future:
  
  • In the right context, it can also mean will get full.

English might use:

• simple present: The café gets full quickly on weekends.
• or: The café will get full quickly on the weekend.

Finnish uses the same present form (täyttyy) for both habitual and predictable future, and context clarifies which is meant.

What case is viikonloppuna, and what does that ending -na mean?

Viikonloppuna is in the inessive case.

• The base word is viikonloppu = weekend
• Inessive singular ending is -ssa / -ssä, but in time expressions Finnish often uses -na / -nä (essive) and -ssa differently. Here, though, viikonloppuna is conventionally treated as a time expression in the essive (form in -na), meaning “on/over the weekend”.

Functionally, viikonloppuna means:

• on the weekend
• during the weekend

So:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.
  = The café fills up quickly on the weekend / during the weekend.

What’s the difference between viikonloppuna and viikonloppuisin?

Both relate to weekends, but they differ in nuance:

• viikonloppuna

  • Literally: on the weekend / during the weekend
  • Can refer to a particular weekend or to “on the weekend” in a more general way, depending on context.

• viikonloppuisin

  • Means on weekends, at weekends (repeated, habitually)
  • Very clearly describes something that happens regularly on weekends.

Compare:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.
  = The café fills up quickly on the weekend (could be this coming weekend, or in general).
• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuisin.
  = The café fills up quickly on weekends (as a regular pattern).

Why is kahvila in this form? Is it the subject or the object?

Kahvila is the subject of the sentence.

• kahvila = café
• It’s in the nominative form (the basic dictionary form).

In this clause:

• Subject: kahvila (the café)
• Verb: täyttyy (gets full / fills up)
• Adverb: nopeasti (quickly)
• Time expression: viikonloppuna (on the weekend)

So the structure is:
[Subject] [verb] [manner] [time]
Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.

What is the structure inside kahvila? Is it related to kahvi (coffee)?

Yes, kahvila is built from kahvi:

• kahvi = coffee
• -la / -lä is a common suffix meaning “place related to X”.

So:

• kahvi
  • -la → kahvila = a place connected to coffee → a café / coffee shop.

Other examples for the -la / -lä place suffix:

• koulu (school) → koulula doesn’t exist, but:
• kirja (book) → kirjasto (library, here a different place suffix)
• juna (train) → asema (station – not with -la, but another place-forming idea)

The important point: kahvi (coffee) → kahvila (café).

Where can nopeasti go in the sentence? Is the word order fixed?

The basic neutral order is:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.

But Finnish word order is relatively flexible. You can move nopeasti for emphasis:

• Viikonloppuna kahvila täyttyy nopeasti.
  (Emphasis on on the weekend.)
• Kahvila viikonloppuna täyttyy nopeasti.
  (Less typical, but possible in speech or special emphasis.)

However, the most natural everyday options are:

1. Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.
2. Viikonloppuna kahvila täyttyy nopeasti.

Moving nopeasti too far away from täyttyy often sounds unnatural, since it describes how the filling happens.

Could I also say Kahvila tulee nopeasti täyteen viikonloppuna? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is possible:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna.
  = The café fills up quickly on the weekend.
  (Simple, neutral way to express the process of becoming full.)

• Kahvila tulee nopeasti täyteen viikonloppuna.
  = Literally: The café quickly comes to full (state) on the weekend.

  • tulla täyteen also means “to get full”, but it often has a slightly more colloquial or dynamic feel.

In most contexts they mean essentially the same thing, but:

• täyttyä is more direct and slightly more neutral/standard.
• tulla täyteen can sound a bit more like “ends up full / quickly reaches full capacity”.

How would I say “The café is full on weekends”, not “gets full”?

To express a state (is full) rather than a change (gets full), you can say:

• Kahvila on täynnä viikonloppuisin.
  = The café is full on weekends.

Here:

• on = is (3rd person singular of olla, “to be”)
• täynnä = full (state)
• viikonloppuisin = on weekends (habitual)

Your original sentence with täyttyy focuses on the process of filling up, not just the end state.

Can I say what the café fills up with? For example, “The café fills up quickly with people on the weekend”?

Yes. The verb täyttyä usually takes the elative case (-sta / -stä) to express what something fills up with:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti ihmisistä viikonloppuna.
  = The café fills up quickly with people on the weekend.

Here:

• ihminen = person
• ihmisistä = with people / from people (elative plural)

Pattern:

• X täyttyy Y:stä.
  = X gets filled with Y.

Does Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuna describe one specific weekend or a general habit?

By itself, it can mean either:

1. General habit / typical situation

   • The café gets full quickly on weekends (in general).

2. A specific, known weekend, often made clear by context or an added word:

   • Tänä viikonloppuna kahvila täyttyy nopeasti.
     = This weekend the café will get full quickly.

If you want to clearly express a regular habit, viikonloppuisin helps:

• Kahvila täyttyy nopeasti viikonloppuisin.
  = The café gets full quickly on weekends (regularly).