Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.

I receive an email in the evening.

Breakdown of Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.

• minä: I
• illalla: in the evening
• saada: to receive
• sähköposti: the email

Questions & Answers about Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.

What exactly does saan mean in this sentence? Is it I get, I will get, or I’m allowed to get?

The form saan comes from the verb saada.

In this sentence, Minä saan sähköpostin illalla most naturally means:

• I will get / I’m going to get an email in the evening
  or, more generally,
• I get an email in the evening (if we are talking about a regular habit)

The verb saada can also mean to be allowed to / to be permitted to, but that usually appears with a verb after it:

• Minä saan mennä. – I’m allowed to go.
• Saan ottaa yhden. – I’m allowed to take one.

Because here the object is sähköpostin (an email, a thing) and not a second verb, it is understood as get/receive, not be allowed to.

Finnish does not have a separate future tense, so the present tense (saan) can mean both:

• present time: I get
• future time: I will get

The time adverb illalla (in the evening) pushes the meaning toward future: something that will happen this evening (or evenings in general, depending on context).

Why does sähköposti end with -n (sähköpostin)? What case is that?

Sähköpostin is the object of the verb saan, and the -n ending here is the genitive/accusative form.

• sähköposti – email, an email (basic form)
• sähköpostin – the whole email as a complete object

In Finnish, when the object is:

• a single, complete thing that you fully get, do, or affect,
  you typically use the “total object”, which for a singular noun often looks like the genitive ending -n.

So Minä saan sähköpostin illalla focuses on one whole email that you fully receive in the evening.

Could I say sähköpostia instead of sähköpostin? What would be the difference?

Yes, you can say sähköpostia, but the meaning changes.

• Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.
  → I will get an (individual, whole) email in the evening.

• Minä saan sähköpostia illalla.
  → I get email / some email / emails in the evening (an indefinite amount, more like there is email coming in).

Sähköpostia is the partitive form. The partitive often indicates:

• an indefinite amount (not one clearly bounded unit),
• something ongoing, incomplete, or repeated,
• or appears with negation (see a later question).

So:

• sähköpostin – a specific, complete email message.
• sähköpostia – email in general, some email, not one clearly counted item.

Can I leave out Minä and just say Saan sähköpostin illalla?

Yes, and that is very natural Finnish.

• Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.
• Saan sähköpostin illalla.

Both mean the same thing: I will get an email in the evening.

Finnish verb endings already show the person:

• saan = I get / I will get
• saat = you (sing.) get
• saa = he/she gets

So you usually only add the pronoun Minä when you want to:

• emphasize the subject (e.g. Minä saan, et sinä. – I get it, not you), or
• be extra clear in spoken language.

In neutral sentences, Saan sähköpostin illalla is perfectly correct and common.

Can I change the word order? For example: Minä saan illalla sähköpostin or Illalla saan sähköpostin?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible, because case endings show the roles of the words. Different word orders are all grammatical but shift the emphasis:

1. Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.
   – Fairly neutral: I will get an email in the evening.

2. Minä saan illalla sähköpostin.
   – Slight emphasis that the thing you get in the evening is an email (not something else).

3. Illalla saan sähköpostin.
   – Emphasis on the time: It’s in the evening that I will get an email (not in the morning etc.).

4. Sähköpostin saan illalla.
   – Emphasis on sähköpostin (the email): It is the email that I get in the evening (maybe something else arrives at another time).

All of these remain understandable as the same basic event, but the theme / focus changes depending on what you place earlier vs later in the sentence. Typically, new or important information tends to go toward the end.

Is the sentence talking about the present or the future? How do I say I got or I will get an email in the evening?

Finnish uses the present tense for both present and future time. The adverb illalla (in the evening) makes it sound future-oriented.

• Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.
  – In context usually understood as I will get an email this evening (or regularly in the evening).

For past events, you use the imperfect (simple past):

• Minä sain sähköpostin illalla.
  – I got an email in the evening.

There is no separate future tense. To make the future sense clear, Finnish relies on:

• context, and
• time expressions like huomenna (tomorrow), illalla (in the evening), ensi viikolla (next week), etc.

So:

• saan – I get / I will get
• sain – I got

What does illalla mean exactly, and how is it formed from ilta?

• ilta = evening (basic form, dictionary form)
• illalla = in the evening

Illalla is the adessive case of ilta. One of the common uses of the adessive is to express time when something happens:

• aamulla – in the morning (from aamu)
• päivällä – in the daytime (from päivä)
• yöllä – at night (from yö)
• illalla – in the evening (from ilta)

Some related forms:

• illaksi – for the evening / by evening
• iltaisin – in the evenings, evenings in general (habitually)

In this sentence, illalla just means in the evening (usually understood as this coming evening, unless context says otherwise).

Does sähköposti mean the email system in general or one email message? How do I say I get emails in the evening?

Sähköposti can mean both:

1. email as a system / medium – email (in general)
2. an email message – an email

Which meaning you have depends on the form and context.

In your sentence:

• Minä saan sähköpostin illalla.
  → Most naturally read as I get an email (one message) in the evening, because of the -n total object and the context.

To talk about emails in general or a habitual situation:

• Minä saan sähköpostia illalla.
  → I get email / some email / emails in the evening (indefinite amount, habit).

If you specifically want plural, countable emails:

• Minä saan sähköposteja illalla.
  → I get (multiple) emails in the evenings / in the evening.

Summary:

• sähköposti – basic form (dictionary)
• sähköpostin – one whole email (as object)
• sähköpostia – some email (unbounded amount / general email)
• sähköposteja – some emails (plural, partitive)

How would I say I won’t get an email in the evening, and why does the object change form?

The negative form is:

• En saa sähköpostia illalla.
  – I will not get (any) email in the evening.

Two important changes:

1. The verb becomes negative:

   • Minä saan → Minä en saa (usually drop Minä in speech: En saa)

2. The object changes from total object to partitive:

   • sähköpostin → sähköpostia

In Finnish, with negation, the object is almost always in the partitive case. It often carries the sense of “any” in English:

• En saa sähköpostia illalla.
  → I won’t get any email in the evening.

So:

• Affirmative, complete: Saan sähköpostin. – I (will) get the email / an email.
• Negative: En saa sähköpostia. – I (will) not get any email.

What is the infinitive (dictionary form) of saan, and how is saada conjugated?

The infinitive (dictionary form) is saada.

Present tense forms (active, indicative):

• minä saan – I get / I will get
• sinä saat – you (sing.) get
• hän saa – he/she gets
• me saamme – we get
• te saatte – you (pl.) get
• he saavat – they get

Past tense (imperfect, simple past):

• minä sain – I got
• sinä sait – you (sing.) got
• hän sai – he/she got
• me saimme – we got
• te saitte – you (pl.) got
• he saivat – they got

Negative present:

• en saa – I do not get / I will not get
• et saa – you (sing.) do not get
• ei saa – he/she does not get
• emme saa – we do not get
• ette saa – you (pl.) do not get
• eivät saa – they do not get

So saan is just the first person singular present tense of saada.

How is Minä saan sähköpostin illalla pronounced? Any special sounds I should notice?

Approximate pronunciation (stress always on the first syllable):

• Minä – [MEE-nah], but with a short i: MI-nä
• saan – [sahn] with a long a (aa): saa-n
• sähköpostin – SÄHK-ö-pos-tin
  • ä like the a in cat
  • ö like the u in British burn (but with rounded lips)
  • hk pronounced as a cluster, not like English sh
• illalla – IL-lal-la
  • ll is a long l (hold it a bit)
  • two l clusters: il-la-lla

Syllable-by-syllable:

• MI-nä SAAN SÄHK-ö-POS-tin IL-lal-la

Key points:

• Stress always on the first syllable of each word.
• aa in saan is longer than the single a in illalla.
• ä and ö are separate vowels from a and o; they are not the same sounds.