Questions & Answers about Minä odotan häntä puistossa.
In Finnish, the verb odottaa (to wait for) always takes its object in the partitive case.
- hän = nominative (subject form)
- hänet = accusative (used with certain complete/total objects)
- häntä = partitive
Because odottaa requires a partitive object, you must say odotan häntä, never odotan hänet or odotan hän.
This is just how the verb is governed: odottaa + partitive.
Finnish usually doesn’t use a separate word like for with odottaa.
The meaning “wait for someone” is expressed by:
- the verb odottaa
- plus its object in partitive: odottaa häntä
So odottaa häntä already means wait for him/her. Adding a preposition like varten would be wrong here (odotan häntä varten is incorrect in this sense).
You can absolutely drop Minä.
- Minä odotan häntä puistossa.
- Odotan häntä puistossa.
Both are correct. The personal ending -n on odotan already shows the subject is I.
Using Minä often adds emphasis: I am the one waiting (as opposed to someone else), or it can appear simply for clarity or style.
It can mean both. Finnish doesn’t have a special continuous/progressive form like “am waiting”.
Odotan häntä puistossa can be:
- I am waiting for him/her in the park. (right now)
- I wait for him/her in the park. (habitually, depending on context)
The exact meaning is understood from context, not from verb form.
Puistossa is in the inessive case, which typically means in / inside / at a place.
- puisto = park
- puistossa = in the park / at the park
The ending -ssa/-ssä is added to show that something happens inside or within that location.
You could, but the meaning changes:
- puistossa = in the park, at the park (location, inside/within)
- puistolla (adessive) = at the park area / by the park, a bit more “on/at” than “in”
- puistoon (illative) = into the park, movement going there
For simply “in the park”, puistossa is the normal, neutral choice.
Both are grammatically correct and can mean the same thing. The difference is in emphasis / focus:
- Odotan häntä puistossa. – neutral, typical order: I’m waiting for him/her in the park.
- Odotan puistossa häntä. – slightly emphasizes häntä (who you are waiting for), or can sound a bit more marked/stylistic.
Finnish word order is flexible; the basic meaning doesn’t change, but the focus can shift.
Häntä is gender‑neutral. It just means him/her (one person). Finnish doesn’t mark grammatical gender in personal pronouns.
So odotan häntä can be:
- I’m waiting for him.
- I’m waiting for her.
You find out which one from context, not from the word itself.
Yes, odottaa can mean both:
- to wait (for)
- to expect
So Minä odotan häntä puistossa could, in some contexts, be understood as I expect him/her in the park.
However, without extra context, learners are usually told to understand it first as I am waiting for him/her in the park, which is the most straightforward reading.
The basic (dictionary) form is odottaa. It’s a type 1 verb.
For the 1st person singular present (“I wait”), Finnish adds -n to the stem:
- stem: odota-
- odota-
- n → odotan
The -n is the personal ending that marks I. Different persons have different endings (e.g. odotat = you wait, odottaa = he/she waits, odotamme = we wait).
It’s not strictly wrong, but it’s unusual and marked.
Finnish doesn’t need a special continuous form to translate English “am waiting”.
- Natural: (Minä) odotan häntä puistossa.
- Olen odottamassa is a special construction that can sound more like “I am in the process of waiting / I’m there waiting (as an ongoing activity)”, often with a nuance of duration or temporary activity.
For normal everyday use, odotan häntä puistossa is the default choice.