Breakdown of Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa kotona.
Questions & Answers about Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa kotona.
The ending -na here is the adessive case, which very often corresponds to English “on (a day / an occasion)” in time expressions.
- perjantai-ilta = Friday evening (basic form)
- perjantai-iltana = on Friday evening
So instead of using a preposition like on, Finnish changes the form of the word with an ending (-na).
Perjantai-ilta is a compound noun: Friday + evening → “Friday evening”.
In Finnish, when the first part of a compound is a proper name (like a weekday name), a hyphen is often used:
- perjantai-ilta = Friday evening
- sunnuntai-aamu = Sunday morning
The case ending is added to the last part of the compound:
- perjantai-ilta → perjantai-iltana (“on Friday evening”)
Normally, in Finnish, weekday names are not capitalized:
- perjantai = Friday
However, in your sentence it appears at the beginning of the sentence, so the first letter is capitalized for that reason, not because it is a weekday:
- Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa kotona.
- Huomenna on perjantai.
So: it’s capitalized because it’s the first word of the sentence, not because of its meaning.
Katson is:
- the verb katsoa = “to watch”
- in present tense
- 1st person singular (“I”)
- indicative mood
So katson means “I watch / I am watching / I will watch” depending on context.
Finnish does not have a separate “I am watching” or “I will watch” form; the simple present covers all of these.
Finnish usually uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when the time is mentioned:
- Huomenna katson elokuvaa. = Tomorrow I’ll watch a movie.
- Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa. = On Friday evening I’ll watch a movie.
There is a future-like construction using tulen + -maan/-mään, but it’s not used as generally as English “will”. For planned, scheduled, or near-future actions, plain present is normal.
Elokuvaa is the partitive singular of elokuva (“movie, film”).
Finnish object case is tricky, but a rough guide:
- Partitive object (elokuvaa) often emphasizes:
- an ongoing process (watching is in progress)
- an incomplete or not-bounded action
- an indefinite amount
So katson elokuvaa suggests “I am watching a movie” as an activity, without focusing on the fact that I finish it.
In contrast:
- Katson elokuvan.
Here elokuvan (genitive) usually implies watching the whole movie, from start to finish — more result/completion oriented.
In everyday Finnish, with verbs like katsoa, using the partitive (elokuvaa) is very common for the neutral “I’m watching a movie”.
Yes, you can say Katson elokuvan, but the nuance changes:
Katson elokuvaa.
- Focus on the process of watching.
- Like “I’m watching a movie” (activity; may or may not finish it).
Katson elokuvan.
- Focus on completion / result.
- Like “I’ll watch the movie (all the way through).”
- Often understood as a specific movie, and that you intend to finish it.
In many casual contexts, katson elokuvaa is the more neutral, typical choice.
Koti is the basic form: “home”.
To say “at home”, Finnish uses a special form kotona, which you simply have to memorize:
- koti = home
- kotiin = (to) home
- kotona = at home
- kotoa = from home
So:
- Olen kotona. = I am at home.
- Menen kotiin. = I go (am going) home.
- Lähden kotoa. = I leave (from) home.
In your sentence, kotona correctly means “at home”.
It’s a bit special. Instead of the expected koti + ssa → kotissa, Finnish has:
- kotiin (to home)
- kotona (at home)
- kotoa (from home)
These forms are historically irregular and are simply learned as the standard way to express movement to/at/from home.
So for learners, it’s best to treat kotiin / kotona / kotoa as a set of fixed forms meaning:
- kotiin = to home
- kotona = at home
- kotoa = from home
Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially with clear case endings. All of these are grammatically fine:
- Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa kotona.
- Katson elokuvaa kotona perjantai-iltana.
- Kotona katson elokuvaa perjantai-iltana.
The default order here (time → verb → object → place) is natural and common, but you can move pieces around for emphasis or style. The core meaning stays the same.
Finnish has no articles (no words like a, an, the). Definiteness and indefiniteness are usually understood from:
- context
- word order
- object case (partitive vs genitive/nominative)
- additional words (like “this, that, some”)
So elokuvaa can correspond to:
- “a movie”
- “some movie”
- sometimes even “the movie”, depending on context.
In your sentence, katson elokuvaa is naturally understood as “(I watch) a movie / (I’m) watching a movie”.
You will often hear:
- perjantai-iltana
- perjantai-iltana and perjantai-iltana-type compounds (with hyphen)
You might see perjantai-iltana more as a fixed compound meaning specifically “Friday evening”.
Perjantai illalla (with a space and illalla = “in the evening”) is also used, but it slightly emphasizes “on Friday, in the evening” as two parts, while perjantai-iltana is one compact expression “on Friday evening”.
For a learner, perjantai-iltana is a very natural, idiomatic choice.
Yes:
- Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa.
= On Friday evening, I (will) watch a movie.
This is a complete and natural sentence. Adding kotona simply adds the detail of where you are watching the movie:
- Perjantai-iltana katson elokuvaa kotona.
= On Friday evening I’ll watch a movie at home.
Both are correct; including kotona is optional, depending on what you want to say.