Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.

She enjoys speaking in Finnish after the workday.

Breakdown of Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.

• hän: he/she
• suomi: Finnish
• jälkeen: after
• nauttia: to enjoy
• -ksi: in
• työpäivä: the workday
• puhuminen: the speaking

Questions & Answers about Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.

Does hän mean he or she here? How do you express gender in Finnish?

Hän can mean he, she, or even they (singular, referring to one person). Finnish personal pronouns do not mark gender.

If you need to make the gender clear, you add extra words, for example:

• mies = man → Mies nauttii… = The man enjoys…
• nainen = woman → Nainen nauttii… = The woman enjoys…
• Or you can mention the person’s name or role: Opettaja nauttii… (The teacher enjoys…).

In spoken Finnish, people very often use se (“it”) instead of hän about people, but in written standard Finnish hän is the normal form for people.

Why is it nauttii puhumisesta and not nauttii puhua, like English “enjoys to speak” or “enjoys speaking”?

The verb nauttia (“to enjoy”) normally takes its complement in the elative case (-sta/-stä), not an infinitive.

Two typical patterns:

• nauttia jostakin = to enjoy something
• nauttia tekemisestä = to enjoy doing (something)

So:

• Hän nauttii puhumisesta.
  = He/She enjoys speaking.

Using the plain infinitive puhua after nauttia (*nauttii puhua) is not standard; it sounds wrong or at least very odd to native speakers. With other verbs you can use infinitives (e.g. haluaa puhua = wants to speak), but nauttia is different and wants that -sta/-stä structure.

What exactly is puhumisesta? Is it a verb or a noun, and how is it formed from puhua?

Puhumisesta is a verbal noun (a noun made from a verb) in the elative case.

Formation:

1. Verb: puhua = to speak
2. Verbal noun: puhuminen = speaking, the act of speaking
   (this is often called a -minen form or “4th infinitive”)
3. Put that noun into the elative (-sta/-stä), because nauttia needs elative:
   • puhuminen → puhumisesta = from/about the speaking → speaking

So grammatically it works like:

• nauttia kahvista = enjoy coffee
• nauttia musiikista = enjoy music
• nauttia puhumisesta = enjoy speaking

All three complements (kahvista, musiikista, puhumisesta) are nouns in the elative case.

Why is it suomeksi and not suomea or suomen? What does the ending -ksi mean?

The ending -ksi is the translative case. One of its uses is to say “in (a language)”:

• suomi = Finnish (language)
• suomeksi = in Finnish

So:

• puhua suomea = to speak Finnish (as a language you know / can speak)
• puhua suomeksi = to speak in Finnish (as the medium, as opposed to e.g. English)

In your sentence:

• Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta…
  The focus is in Finnish (not in some other language).

The other forms you mentioned:

• suomea – partitive of suomi, used e.g. puhua suomea (to speak Finnish).
• suomen – genitive of suomi, “of Finnish”, e.g. suomen kieli (the Finnish language), suomen puhuminen (the speaking of Finnish).

Could I say Hän nauttii puhumisesta suomeksi työpäivän jälkeen instead? How flexible is the word order?

Yes, Hän nauttii puhumisesta suomeksi työpäivän jälkeen is also correct and natural.

Finnish word order is quite flexible. Here are some common variants:

• Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.
• Hän nauttii puhumisesta suomeksi työpäivän jälkeen.
• Hän nauttii työpäivän jälkeen suomeksi puhumisesta.

All are grammatical. The differences are mostly about emphasis and rhythm, not basic meaning.

What you normally wouldn’t split is the phrase työpäivän jälkeen (keep those two together), and you keep puhumisesta as one word. Otherwise, adverbials like suomeksi and työpäivän jälkeen can move around fairly freely.

How does työpäivän jälkeen work grammatically? Why does työpäivä become työpäivän?

Työpäivän jälkeen is a genitive + postposition structure:

• työpäivä = workday
• työpäivän = genitive singular of työpäivä (”of the workday”)
• jälkeen = after

Many Finnish postpositions require the preceding noun in the genitive. Jälkeen is one of them:

• työpäivän jälkeen = after the workday
• kurssin jälkeen = after the course
• loman jälkeen = after the holiday

So the case change työpäivä → työpäivän is required by the postposition jälkeen.

If I just want to say after work, is työpäivän jälkeen the most natural option? What about töiden jälkeen or työn jälkeen?

All of these are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

• työpäivän jälkeen
  = after the workday (after the workday is over, fairly concrete “day at work”)

• töiden jälkeen
  = after (one’s) work / after work (in general)
  This is very common and often the most idiomatic for “after work” in everyday speech:

  • Hän käy salilla töiden jälkeen. = He/She goes to the gym after work.

• työn jälkeen
  = after the work / after the job (more about a specific piece or type of work)
  You might see it, but töiden jälkeen is more typical in the “after work” sense.

In your sentence, työpäivän jälkeen suggests “after the workday is done”, which fits well with a daily routine.

Could I use tykkää or pitää instead of nauttii? Would the sentence change?

Yes, you can replace nauttii with tykkää or pitää, but there are small differences in tone:

• nauttia (jostakin)
  = to enjoy something (a bit stronger, often slightly more formal or expressive)

• tykätä (jostakin)
  = to like (colloquial, very common in spoken Finnish)

• pitää (jostakin)
  = to like (more neutral/standard than tykätä)

All three take the elative (-sta/-stä), so your sentence can be:

• Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.
• Hän tykkää suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.
• Hän pitää suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.

Meaning is essentially:

• nauttii – really enjoys
• tykkää / pitää – likes

In English we distinguish “enjoys speaking” and “is enjoying speaking”. Here it’s just nauttii. Is there any similar difference in Finnish?

Finnish does not have a special grammatical progressive form like English “is enjoying”. The same present tense nauttii covers both:

• habitual: He/She enjoys speaking Finnish after work.
• ongoing: He/She is (right now) enjoying speaking Finnish after work.

Context or adverbs show the difference when needed:

• Hän aina nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta.
  = He/She always enjoys speaking Finnish. (habit)

• Hän juuri nyt nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta.
  = He/She is right now enjoying speaking Finnish. (ongoing)

But the verb form nauttii itself doesn’t change for those two meanings.

Can the subject hän be left out, like Nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen?

Grammatically, Finnish can drop subject pronouns, because verb endings show person. However:

• In 3rd person singular (hän / se), dropping the subject is less common and can sound a bit literary or require clear prior context.
• As an isolated sentence, Nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen feels incomplete or vague: Who enjoys it?

In normal, clear Finnish, especially in a standalone sentence, you should keep hän:

• Hän nauttii suomeksi puhumisesta työpäivän jälkeen.

You might omit hän in context if the subject is absolutely obvious from previous sentences, but even then many speakers prefer to include it for clarity.