Learn Hardcore Finnish: Hän yrittää rakentaa tasapainoisen arjen, jossa on aikaa perheelle. - She/He tries to build a balanced everyday life where there is time for the family.

tasapainoinen arki = a balanced everyday life, balanced daily routine
tasapainoinen elämä = a balanced life (more generally, could include values, health, long‑term life choices)

Why is it tasapainoisen arjen and not tasapainoinen arki?

Tasapainoisen arjen is the object of rakentaa (yrittää rakentaa mitä? – tasapainoisen arjen).
Finnish marks a “whole, complete object” in the genitive case.

Nominative: tasapainoinen arki (dictionary form)
Genitive: tasapainoisen arjen

Because she is trying to “build a whole balanced everyday life”, the object is seen as complete → genitive object.

Could you also say tasapainoista arkea instead of tasapainoisen arjen? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Hän yrittää rakentaa tasapainoista arkea.

Here tasapainoista arkea is partitive, which usually suggests something incomplete, ongoing, or “some amount of”.

Nuance:

tasapainoisen arjen = building a whole, clear goal: a balanced everyday life as a complete thing
tasapainoista arkea = more like working on making everyday life more balanced in general, not so much as a fixed “end product”

Both are correct; the given sentence emphasizes the idea of a whole, balanced everyday life as a goal.

What case is aikaa, and why is it used here?

Aikaa is in the partitive singular of aika (“time”).

We use the partitive here because the sentence talks about an indefinite, “some” amount of time rather than a specific, countable unit.

jossa on aikaa perheelle ≈ “in which there is (enough) time for the family”
→ unspecific quantity → partitive aikaa

What case is perheelle, and what does it literally mean?

Perheelle is allative singular of perhe (“family”).

Allative (-lle) often means:

to, onto, or, figuratively, for someone/something.

So perheelle literally is “to the family / for the family”.
Here: on aikaa perheelle ≈ “there is time for the family”.

Could you say aikaa perheen kanssa instead of aikaa perheelle? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

… jossa on aikaa perheen kanssa.
= “…where there is time with the family.”

Difference:

aikaa perheelle = time for the family (time you can dedicate to them; focus on giving them time)
aikaa perheen kanssa = time with the family (focus on being together, spending time in each other’s company)

Both are natural; the nuance is slightly different.

Why is it jossa, not missä?

Jossa is a relative pronoun: “in which / where”, referring back to tasapainoisen arjen.

arki, arjen = the thing
jossa = “in which (everyday life)”

Missä is a basic question/relative word meaning “where”, but jossa already contains the pronoun part (jo-) and the case ending (-ssa “in”).

Use jossa when you say “in which” referring to a noun that was just mentioned:

arjen, jossa… = “the everyday life in which…”

Why is there a comma before jossa?

The comma separates the main clause from the relative clause:

Main clause: Hän yrittää rakentaa tasapainoisen arjen
Relative clause: jossa on aikaa perheelle

In Finnish, a relative clause introduced by words like joka, jota, jossa, että etc. is usually separated by a comma from the main clause.

How does yrittää work with another verb? Why is it yrittää rakentaa, not something like yrittää rakentamaan?

Yrittää (“to try”) is followed by the 1st infinitive of the next verb, the basic dictionary form:

yrittää tehdä – to try to do
yrittää oppia – to try to learn
yrittää rakentaa – to try to build

Using -maan/-mään (the 3rd infinitive illative) would be wrong here:
✗ yrittää rakentamaan is not used.

Verbs that take -maan/-mään are different ones, like:

ryhtyä rakentamaan – to start building
jäädä odottamaan – to stay (in order) to wait

Why is yrittää in this form without a personal ending like -n or -t?

The personal ending is actually there, but in 3rd person singular it is zero (no extra letter):

Singular:

minä yritän – I try
sinä yrität – you try
hän yrittää – he/she tries ← 3rd person, no added consonant

Plural:

me yritämme
te yritätte
he yrittävät

So yrittää here is 3rd person singular, matching hän.

Does hän mean “he” or “she”? How do you know which one?

Hän is a gender‑neutral 3rd person singular pronoun. It covers both he and she.

You only know the gender from context, if it’s important. The Finnish sentence itself does not specify. In English you must choose “he” or “she” (or a neutral solution, like “they”), depending on context.

Is rakentaa only used for physical building, or can it also mean “build” in an abstract sense like here?

Rakentaa literally means to build / construct, but it is very commonly used in abstract/figurative ways, just like English:

rakentaa talo – build a house (literal)
rakentaa uraa – build a career
rakentaa luottamusta – build trust
rakentaa tasapainoinen arki – build/create a balanced everyday life

So using rakentaa for a lifestyle or routine is natural Finnish.