Learn Hardcore Finnish: Kotona tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni kirkkaanpunaisella kynsilakalla. - At home my daughter wants to paint my nails with bright red nail polish.

Kotona is koti in the inessive case (ending -ssa/-ssä, here assimilated to -na after i), which usually means “in / at” a place. So kotona means “at home”.

Some related forms:

kotiin – “(to) home”, moving to home (illative)
kotoa – “(from) home”, moving from home (elative)
kotona – “at home”, being in/at home (inessive)

In this sentence, we’re talking about a situation that happens at home, not movement, so kotona is the right form.

Why is Kotona at the beginning of the sentence? Could it go elsewhere?

Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and speakers move elements around to show emphasis or topic.

Putting Kotona first makes “at home” the topic / setting of the sentence:

Kotona tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni…
= At home, my daughter wants to paint my nails… (we’re talking about what happens at home).

Other possible orders:

Tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni kotona…
Neutral “my daughter wants to paint my nails at home…”, with more neutral emphasis.
Tyttäreni haluaa kotona maalata kynteni…
Slight emphasis on doing it at home rather than elsewhere.

All are grammatically correct; the choice mainly affects what is highlighted first for the listener.

Why is it tyttäreni and not minun tyttäreni for “my daughter”?

Finnish usually marks possession with a possessive suffix instead of (or in addition to) a separate pronoun:

tytär = daughter
tyttäreni = my daughter (tyttäre- + -ni “my”)

So:

tyttäreni on its own already means “my daughter”.
minun tyttäreni is also possible, but it tends to emphasise the “my” part (e.g. contrast: not someone else’s daughter, but *my daughter*).

In everyday neutral speech, tyttäreni is enough and is very natural here.

Can tyttäreni also mean “my daughters”? How would I know?

Yes. Tyttäreni is ambiguous between:

“my daughter” (singular)
“my daughters” (plural)

You tell from context and especially from the verb:

Tyttäreni haluaa… → my daughter wants… (singular verb haluaa)
Tyttäreni haluavat… → my daughters want… (plural verb haluavat)

In the given sentence, the verb is haluaa (3rd person singular), so here tyttäreni = “my daughter”.

What exactly does kynteni mean, and how is it formed?

Basic noun:

kynsi = nail (finger/toe nail)

With a possessive suffix:

stem: kynt(e)- (consonant gradation from kynsi)
- -ni = my

So kynteni means “my nail / my nails”, depending on context.

In this sentence maalata kynteni is understood as “paint my nails”, i.e. all the person’s nails, because that’s what you normally paint. Finnish doesn’t always mark plural visibly when a possessive suffix is used; kynteni can mean one or more nails.

Why doesn’t kynteni have a visible plural ending like kynnet?

Without a possessive suffix:

kynsi = a nail
kynnet = nails (nominative plural)

With a possessive suffix -ni:

kynteni = my nail / my nails (form is the same)

When a possessive suffix is attached, the plural is often not separately shown in the nominative / total object form. Examples:

käsini = my hand / my hands
oveni = my door / my doors

Here kynteni functions as a total object (“all my nails”), and its form happens to look like nominative with a possessive suffix. You know it is the object from its role in the sentence (it’s what gets painted).

Which case is kirkkaanpunaisella kynsilakalla, and why do both words have -lla?

Both kirkkaanpunaisella and kynsilakalla are in the adessive case (-lla/-llä).

kirkkaanpunainen = bright red (adjective)
kynsilakka = nail polish
kirkkaanpunaisella kynsilakalla = with bright red nail polish

Uses of adessive -lla/-llä include:

Location on something – pöydällä = on the table
Instrument / means – kynällä = with a pen

Here it’s clearly the instrument meaning, so kynsilakalla = “with nail polish”.

The adjective kirkkaanpunainen must agree in case and number with the noun it modifies, so it also takes adessive:
kirkkaanpunaisella (millaisella?) kynsilakalla (millä?) → “with what kind of nail polish? with bright red nail polish”.

Why is kirkkaanpunaisella one word and why are there two n’s?

Kirkkaanpunainen is a compound adjective:

kirkas = bright, clear
punainen = red
kirkkaanpunainen = bright red

It’s written as one word because Finnish tends to write such combinations (intensifier + colour) as compounds.

The double n comes from:

kirkas → kirkkaan (in the strong grade / genitive form often used as an intensifying first part)
- punainen
  → kirkkaanpunainen

Then we put it in the adessive case to match kynsilakalla:

kirkkaanpunainen → kirkkaanpunaisella (adessive singular)

Why is it haluaa maalata and not haluaa maalaa or something else?

The verb haluta (to want) is followed by the 1st infinitive form of the other verb:

haluaa maalata = “(she) wants to paint”

Pattern: haluta + (to-)verb (1st infinitive)
e.g. haluan syödä – I want to eat
hän haluaa nukkua – she wants to sleep

So:

haluaa maalata = correct
haluaa maalaa = wrong (you’re putting the second verb in a finite form instead of infinitive)

The finite verb here is only haluaa; maalata stays in infinitive.

Could I also say Tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni kotona kirkkaanpunaisella kynsilakalla? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing.

Differences are about information structure and emphasis:

Kotona tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni…
Starts with “at home”, so the setting (“at home”) is highlighted first.
Tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni kotona…
Starts with “my daughter”, then adds “at home” more neutrally at the end.
Tyttäreni haluaa kotona maalata kynteni…
Slight emphasis on doing it at home as opposed to elsewhere.

In everyday speech you’ll most often hear something like:
Tyttäreni haluaa maalata kynteni kotona kirkkaanpunaisella kynsilakalla.

Why is it kynteni and not kynteniä? When would I use kynteniä?

Finnish distinguishes between total and partial objects:

Total object – the action affects the whole thing (all of it / completed)
Partial object (partitive) – only part of it, or ongoing / not completed

Here:

maalata kynteni uses a total object: your daughter means to paint all of your nails, so kynteni.

You would use the partitive plural kynteniä if:

only some of your nails are painted, or
the action is presented as ongoing / incomplete.

For example:

Tyttäreni maalaa kynteniäni.
= My daughter is painting my nails (ongoing, maybe not all of them yet).