Learn Hardcore Finnish: Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan, jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta. - In the morning I make a short to‑do list so that the day does not feel chaotic.

Literally it is aamu (morning) + the ending -lla, which is the adessive case. The adessive often means on / at something, but with times of day it’s used for “at/in [time]”:

aamulla – in the morning
päivällä – in the daytime / in the afternoon
illalla – in the evening
yöllä – at night

So Aamulla teen… = In the morning I make…

Why is there no word for a or the in Aamulla or päivä?

Finnish has no articles (no equivalents of English a / an / the).

Whether English would use a or the is usually understood from context, word order, and case endings. So:

Aamulla teen… can be In the morning I make… (not In morning I make…)
päivä ei tunnu sekavalta can be the day doesn’t feel chaotic or my day doesn’t feel chaotic, depending on context.

You don’t add any extra word in Finnish for this; you just say aamu, päivä, etc.

Why is it teen and not minä teen for I make?

The subject minä (I) is optional in Finnish, because the person and number are already shown in the verb ending.

teen = I make / I do
teet = you (sg) make
tekee = he / she makes
teemme = we make
teette = you (pl) make
tekevät = they make

So:

Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan
= In the morning I make a short to‑do list.

You could say Minä teen, but it usually adds emphasis on I: I (as opposed to someone else) make a short to‑do list.

What is lyhyen, and why isn’t it just lyhyt?

The base adjective is lyhyt (short).

In the sentence we have lyhyen tehtävälistan, and both words are in the genitive singular case, because they are the object and its adjective:

tehtävälista (a to‑do list) → tehtävälistan (object form: a/the to‑do list)
lyhyt (short) → lyhyen (agreeing with tehtävälistan)

In Finnish, an adjective must agree in case and number with the noun:

lyhyt tehtävälista – a short to‑do list (basic dictionary form)
lyhyen tehtävälistan – a short to‑do list (as a complete object)

So lyhyen is simply “short” in the genitive singular, matching tehtävälistan.

Why is tehtävälistan in that form, and what exactly does it mean?

Tehtävälista is a compound noun:

tehtävä – task, exercise (from the verb tehdä: to do, to make)
lista – list

Together: tehtävälista = task list / to‑do list.

In the sentence, tehtävälista is the direct object of teen (I make). Because the speaker is making one whole, definite list, Finnish uses the “total object” form, which in the singular is usually the genitive:

tehtävälista (basic form) → tehtävälistan (total object)

So:

Teen lyhyen tehtävälistan.
Literally: I make a short to‑do list (completely).

If you wanted to emphasize an ongoing, incomplete or “some” kind of action, you could use the partitive:

Teen lyhyttä tehtävälistaa. – I am (in the process of) making a short to‑do list / I work on a short to‑do list.

But in the original sentence, the idea is that you make the list as a completed thing, so tehtävälistan is used.

Why is there a comma before jotta?

Jotta introduces a subordinate clause that explains the purpose of the main clause. In Finnish, a comma is normally placed before conjunctions that start such clauses:

Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan, jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta.
→ Main clause: Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan.
→ Subordinate clause: jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta.

So the comma is there for the same reason as in English:

I make a short to‑do list in the morning, so that the day doesn’t feel chaotic.

What does jotta mean, and how is it different from että?

Jotta is a conjunction meaning so that / in order that and usually expresses purpose or goal:

Teen listan, jotta muistaisin kaiken.
– I make a list so that I would remember everything.

Että is a more general “that”, often used to introduce reported speech or facts:

Tiedän, että sinä teet listan.
– I know that you make a list.

Sometimes both can appear in similar structures, but their nuance differs:

Teen listan, että muistan. – colloquial, more like “I make a list, so then I remember.”
Teen listan, jotta muistan. – more clearly “I make a list in order to remember.”

In the original sentence, jotta is appropriate because it clearly marks the purpose: making the list so that the day will not feel chaotic.

Why is päivä in the basic form, not something like päivän?

In the clause jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta, päivä is the subject of the verb tunnu (ei tunnu = does not feel).

Subjects in Finnish are normally in the nominative case (the basic dictionary form):

Päivä tuntuu sekavalta. – The day feels chaotic.
Päivä ei tunnu sekavalta. – The day does not feel chaotic.

So päivä here is just “the day” in the nominative. The case doesn’t change simply because it is in a subordinate clause.

What is ei tunnu, and how does the negative work here?

The positive form of the verb is tuntua (to feel, to seem).

Päivä tuntuu sekavalta. – The day feels chaotic.

Finnish forms negatives with a separate negative verb (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät) plus the “connegative” main verb:

ei – negative verb, 3rd person singular
tunnu – base form used with the negative (from tuntua)

So:

Päivä ei tunnu sekavalta.
literally: The day does not feel chaotic.

Other persons:

En tunne – I don’t feel / I don’t know (from tuntea)
Emme tunnu väsyneiltä. – We do not seem tired.

Why is it sekavalta and not just sekava?

The adjective sekava means confused, chaotic, messy.

With verbs like tuntua (to feel, to seem), maistua (to taste), tuoksua (to smell), vaikuttaa (to appear/seem – sometimes), Finnish often puts the descriptive adjective in the ablative case: -lta / -ltä.

Päivä tuntuu sekavalta. – The day feels chaotic.
Ruoka maistuu hyvältä. – The food tastes good.
Hän kuulostaa väsyneeltä. – He/She sounds tired.

So:

sekava (basic form) → sekavalta (ablative singular: “chaotic from the point of view of how it feels”).

In jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta, sekavalta is the required form after tuntua to say “to feel/seem [adjective]”.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Teen aamulla lyhyen tehtävälistan, jotta…?

Yes. Finnish word order is quite flexible, especially with adverbs of time and place. You can say:

Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan, jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta.
Teen aamulla lyhyen tehtävälistan, jotta päivä ei tunnu sekavalta.

Both mean essentially the same thing: I make a short to‑do list in the morning so that the day doesn’t feel chaotic.

Putting Aamulla first slightly emphasizes when you do it: As for mornings, that’s when I make the list. Placing it after the verb sounds a bit more neutral. Both are natural.

Is there any difference in meaning between Aamulla teen… and Aamuisin teen…?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

Aamulla teen lyhyen tehtävälistan.
– In the morning I make a short to‑do list (refers to a particular morning or context, or just a factual description).
Aamuisin teen lyhyen tehtävälistan.
– In the mornings / Every morning I make a short to‑do list.

Aamuisin is a frequentative time adverb: it emphasizes that this is a habit or regular routine. The original Aamulla can also describe a habit if you say it as a general statement, but Aamuisin makes the “every morning” idea very explicit.