Learn Hardcore Finnish: Joululomalla haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa. - During the Christmas holiday I want to rest at home with my family.

on, at a place: pöydällä = on the table
but with time expressions, it often means “during”:
- kesälomalla = during the summer holiday
- joululomalla = during the Christmas holiday

So Joululomalla literally is “on/at Christmas vacation”, but in natural English we say “during (the) Christmas vacation”. That’s why -lla is used here: it marks the time period when you want to rest.

Why is it haluan and not some other form of the verb “to want”?

The verb is haluta = to want.

It is conjugated in the present tense, 1st person singular:

minä haluan = I want
sinä haluat = you (sg) want
hän haluaa = he/she wants

The sentence talks about what I want, so you need haluan.

Also, Finnish usually uses the present tense to talk about future plans:

Joululomalla haluan levätä…
Literally: On Christmas holiday I want to rest…
But in meaning: I want to rest (then / in the future).

There is no separate “will want” form; haluan covers both I want (now) and I will want (in that time frame).

Why is levätä in the infinitive form? Is it like “want to rest”?

Yes. In Finnish, after haluta (to want), the next verb is usually in the basic infinitive (the 1st infinitive).

Pattern:

haluan tehdä = I want to do
haluat syödä = you want to eat
haluan levätä = I want to rest

So levätä is not conjugated (no “I rest / he rests” form); it stays in the infinitive “to rest” because it depends on haluan:

haluan (I want) + levätä (to rest) = I want to rest.

You would not say:

haluan lepään ✗
The second verb after haluan must be in the infinitive, not in a finite (conjugated) form.

What exactly does kotona mean, and what case is it?

Kotona means “at home”.

It is the inessive case (normally -ssa / -ssä), but koti is irregular:

basic form: koti (home)
inessive: kotona (at home)
(instead of the “regular” kotissa)

The inessive is usually used for being inside/at a place:

talossa = in the house
kaupungissa = in the city
kotona = at home

So levätä kotona = to rest at home.

What is the difference between kotiin, kotona, and kotoa?

All three are forms of koti (home), but they express different directions:

kotiin – illative: to home, into home (movement towards)
- Menen kotiin. = I’m going home.
kotona – inessive: at home (location in/at)
- Olen kotona. = I’m at home.
kotoa – elative: from home (movement away from)
- Lähden kotoa. = I leave (from) home.

In your sentence, you’re talking about being at home while resting, so kotona (at home) is the correct choice:

haluan levätä kotona = I want to rest at home.

Why is it perheen kanssa and not just perhe kanssa?

Kanssa (“with”) requires the noun before it to be in the genitive case.

basic form: perhe = family
genitive: perheen = (of) the family

The structure is:

[genitive] + kanssa = with [someone/something]

Examples:

ystävän kanssa = with (a) friend
lapsen kanssa = with the child
perheen kanssa = with the family

So perhe kanssa is incorrect; it must be perheen kanssa.

If the English meaning is “with my family”, why doesn’t Finnish say perheeni kanssa?

Finnish often leaves out possessive pronouns (my, your, etc.) when it is obvious from context whose thing/person it is.

perheen kanssa literally: with the family
In a natural context, this normally means “with my family” when I am speaking.

If you really want to emphasize my (as opposed to someone else’s family), you can say:

oman perheeni kanssa = with my own family

So:

Joululomalla haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa.
→ understood as “with my family”.

Adding perheeni is grammatically correct, but often unnecessary:

Joululomalla haluan levätä kotona perheeni kanssa. (more explicitly “my family”)

What does kanssa actually mean, and is it a preposition like in English?

Kanssa means “with”, but grammatically it is a postposition, not a preposition.

In English: with my family (the little word comes before the noun)
In Finnish: perheen kanssa (the little word comes after the noun)

Structure:

[noun in genitive] + kanssa = with [noun]
- ystävän kanssa = with a friend
- äidin kanssa = with (my) mother
- perheen kanssa = with (my) family

So instead of adding a case ending like in some other uses (e.g. talossa = in the house), here Finnish uses this postposition + genitive construction to express “with”.

Can I change the word order, for example: Haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa joululomalla? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can change the word order; Finnish word order is quite flexible, and your example is grammatically correct.

Some possible variants:

Joululomalla haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa.
(Original; emphasis starts with “During Christmas vacation…”)
Haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa joululomalla.
(Emphasis starts with “I want to…”, time comes later.)
Kotona haluan levätä joululomalla perheen kanssa.
(Emphasis on “at home”.)

In Finnish, the first element of the sentence usually carries thematic or contrastive emphasis:

Starting with Joululomalla highlights when.
Starting with Haluan highlights the wanting / intention.
Starting with Kotona highlights the location.

The basic meaning stays the same: you want to rest at home with your family during the Christmas holidays. The difference is mostly which part you are foregrounding.

Could I say Joululomalla lepään kotona perheen kanssa instead of using haluan levätä?

Yes, you can, and it is grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

Joululomalla haluan levätä kotona perheen kanssa.
= During the Christmas holiday, I want to rest at home with my family.
→ Focus on your desire / wish.
Joululomalla lepään kotona perheen kanssa.
= During the Christmas holiday, I (will) rest at home with my family.
→ Sounds more like a planned / decided fact, less like just a wish.

Both use present tense, but in Finnish present can indicate future, so lepään here is a bit like “I’m going to rest / I’ll be resting”.

What tense is haluan, and how does Finnish express the future here?

Haluan is present tense, 1st person singular.

Finnish normally does not have a separate future tense. Instead, the present tense is used for:

true present:
- Nyt haluan levätä. = Now I want to rest.
as well as future (when context makes it clear):
- Joululomalla haluan levätä. = During the Christmas holiday, I will want / I want (at that time) to rest.

So Finnish relies on:

time expressions (like joululomalla, tomorrow, next week),
and context
to show that the action is in the future, even though the verb itself is in the present tense.