Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.

We drink coffee just the two of us in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.

• kahvi: the coffee
• juoda: to drink
• -ssa: in
• keittiö: the kitchen
• me: we
• kahdestaan: together (just the two of us)

Questions & Answers about Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.

Why do you say “Me juomme” instead of just “Juomme”? Is the “me” pronoun necessary?

In Finnish, the personal ending on the verb already shows who the subject is:

• juomme = we drink / we are drinking (1st person plural)

So grammatically, you can say:

• Juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We are drinking coffee together in the kitchen.

Adding me is optional in neutral sentences and is often used:

1. To make the subject very clear, especially for learners or in spoken language.
2. For emphasis, like “WE are drinking coffee…” (as opposed to someone else).

So both are correct:

• Me juomme kahvia … (slightly more explicit/emphatic)
• Juomme kahvia … (more compact, fully correct Finnish)

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Why is it “kahvia” and not “kahvi”?

Kahvia is the partitive form of kahvi (“coffee”).

Finnish uses the partitive for, among other things:

• An indefinite, uncountable amount of something
  → “some coffee”, “coffee (not counted, just substance)”

So:

• Me juomme kahvia…
  = We are drinking (some) coffee.

You’d use kahvi (nominative) in contexts like:

• Kahvi on kuumaa. – The coffee is hot.
• Tämä kahvi on vahvaa. – This coffee is strong.

With “to drink” (juoda), if you mean drinking a substance, the default is the partitive:

• Juon vettä. – I drink water / I’m drinking (some) water.
• Juomme viiniä. – We drink wine.

Using kahvi with juoda is possible but changes the nuance (e.g. “one portion of coffee,” or a very specific coffee), and is far less common in everyday speech for “drinking coffee.”

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What does “kahdestaan” mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Kahdestaan means “the two of us / the two of them, just the two together”.

It’s built from the number kaksi (two):

• kaksi → kahde- (a stem variant) + -staan
  → kahdestaan = as a pair, just the two (of us / of them)

So in the sentence:

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We are drinking coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen.

It emphasizes that no one else is involved; it’s just the two people.

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If “me” already means “we”, why do we also need “kahdestaan”? Isn’t that redundant?

They give different kinds of information:

• me → who is doing the action (the subject: “we”)
• kahdestaan → the manner/group size of the action (there are two people only, together)

Compare:

• Me juomme kahvia keittiössä.
  = We drink coffee in the kitchen. (Could be 2, 3, 4, etc. people.)

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We (and only we two) are drinking coffee together in the kitchen.

So “me” tells who, and “kahdestaan” adds the nuance it’s just the two of us.

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How is “kahdestaan” different from “yhdessä” (“together”)?

• yhdessä = together, with others (any number of people)
• kahdestaan = together, just the two people

Examples:

• Me juomme kahvia yhdessä.
  = We drink coffee together. (Could be 2, 3, 4 people…)

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan.
  = We (two) drink coffee together, just the two of us.

So kahdestaan is more specific: explicitly a pair.

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Why is it “keittiössä” with -ssä at the end?

Keittiössä is the inessive case, which generally means “in” or “inside” something.

• keittiö = kitchen
• keittiö + ssä → keittiössä = in the kitchen

Finnish often uses a case ending instead of a separate preposition:

• talossa – in the house (talo + ssa)
• koulussa – at school / in the school (koulu + ssa)
• kaupungissa – in the city (kaupunki + ssa)

So keittiössä covers what English expresses with the preposition “in”.

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Can I change the word order, for example: “Me juomme kahdestaan kahvia keittiössä”? Does it change the meaning?

You can change the word order, and the core meaning stays the same, but the focus can shift slightly.

Some possibilities:

1. Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
   – Very neutral. Slight emphasis on “kahdestaan” before the place.

2. Me juomme kahdestaan kahvia keittiössä.
   – Emphasizes the fact that you’re two together a bit more (kahdestaan comes early).

3. Keittiössä me juomme kahvia kahdestaan.
   – Emphasizes the location: “In the kitchen we drink coffee together, just the two of us.”

All are grammatical. Finnish word order is flexible, but the default neutral order is usually:

Subject – Verb – Object – Adverbs (manner/time/place)

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How would I say this in the past tense?

You only need to change the verb form:

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We are drinking coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen.

→ Past:

• Me joimme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We drank coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen.

Breakdown:

• juoda (to drink) → me joimme (we drank)
  
  • present: juomme (we drink / are drinking)
  • past: joimme (we drank / were drinking)

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Does Finnish distinguish between “we drink coffee” and “we are drinking coffee” in this sentence?

No, Finnish does not have a separate continuous tense like English.

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.

can mean:

• We drink coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen. (general habit)
• We are drinking coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen. (right now)

The difference (habit vs. right now) is usually clear from context or extra words like:

• aina – always
• usein – often
• nyt – now

e.g. Nyt me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä. – Now we are drinking coffee together in the kitchen.

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Could I drop “kahvia” and just say: “Me juomme kahdestaan keittiössä”?

Grammatically yes, but it changes how clear the sentence is.

• Me juomme kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = We drink / are drinking (something) together in the kitchen.

Without kahvia, the verb juoda (= to drink) no longer has an object, so it feels incomplete unless context strongly tells you what you’re drinking.

In everyday speech, people might omit the object if it’s obvious (e.g., you’re both sitting at the table with coffee cups). But as a standalone sentence, including kahvia is more natural and clear.

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What’s the difference between “me” and “minä ja sinä” here?

• me = we (any group including the speaker)
• minä ja sinä = I and you

You could say:

• Minä ja sinä juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.
  = I and you drink coffee together, just the two of us, in the kitchen.

This is correct but more clumsy; Finnish normally uses me instead:

• Me juomme kahvia kahdestaan keittiössä.

Because kahdestaan already implies “just the two (of us),” native speakers usually don’t say minä ja sinä unless they really want to spell it out for some reason.

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Can “kahdestaan” be used for any two people, not just “we two”?

Yes. Kahdestaan works with any pair, depending on the subject:

• He juovat kahvia kahdestaan.
  = They are drinking coffee together, just the two of them.

• Te juotte kahvia kahdestaan.
  = You two are drinking coffee together.

• Liisa ja Matti juovat kahvia kahdestaan.
  = Liisa and Matti are drinking coffee together, just the two of them.

So kahdestaan always refers to the two participants mentioned by the subject, whatever they are.

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Is there anything special about the verb form “juomme” itself?

Yes, it shows both person and number:

• Verb: juoda – to drink
• Stem: juo-
• Ending for “we” (1st person plural): -mme

So:

• juo + mme → juomme
  = we drink / we are drinking

Other forms for comparison:

• juon – I drink
• juot – you (sing.) drink
• juo – he / she drinks
• juomme – we drink
• juotte – you (pl.) drink
• juovat – they drink

Because the verb clearly shows the subject, “me” is optional in many sentences, as discussed earlier.