Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla.

He/She speaks Finnish naturally in class.

Breakdown of Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla.

• hän: he/she
• puhua: to speak
• suomi: Finnish
• -lla: in
• luonnollinen: natural
• kurssi: the class

Questions & Answers about Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla.

Why is it suomea and not suomi after puhuu?

In Finnish, languages used as objects of puhua (to speak) are normally in the partitive case, not in the basic (nominative) form.

• suomi = Finnish (language), nominative
• suomea = Finnish, partitive singular

With puhua, you almost always say:

• puhua suomea – to speak Finnish
• puhua englantia – to speak English
• puhua ruotsia – to speak Swedish

Using suomi here (puhuu suomi) would sound wrong or at least very unidiomatic in standard Finnish.

What exactly does luonnollisesti mean here?

Luonnollisesti is an adverb formed from luonnollinen (natural). In this sentence it means:

• in a natural way / naturally (not awkwardly or stiffly)

So Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti focuses on how the person speaks Finnish: fluently, in a way that sounds natural for the language.

Note: luonnollisesti can also mean “of course” in other contexts, but here it is clearly describing the manner of speaking.

Why is it kurssilla and not something like “kurssissa” or just “kurssi”?

Kurssilla is kurssi (course, class) in the adessive case (-lla/-llä), which often corresponds to “at” in English for activities or events:

• kurssilla – at/while on the course, in class
• tunnilla – in/at the lesson
• työssä (different case) – at work
• pihalla – in the yard / outside

Plain kurssi is just the base word “course” and doesn’t mark location.
Kurssissa (inessive, “in the course”) would usually sound odd here; you normally say kurssilla for “in class / on a course” as a setting.

Why isn’t there a separate word for “in/at” in kurssilla?

Finnish often doesn’t use separate prepositions like “in” or “at”.
Instead, it adds case endings to nouns:

• talossa – in the house (talo + ssa)
• pöydällä – on the table (pöytä + llä)
• kurssilla – at the course/class (kurssi + lla)

So kurssilla itself already includes the idea of “at (the) course”.

Can Hän mean both “he” and “she”?

Yes. Hän is gender-neutral. It can mean he or she, and Finnish doesn’t grammatically distinguish between male and female in pronouns.

Context (or an additional noun like mies man, nainen woman, opiskelija student) tells you whether the person is male, female, or something else. Grammatically it’s the same.

Why is the verb puhuu and not puhua?

Puhua is the infinitive form: to speak.
In a real sentence you need to conjugate it to match the subject hän.

Present tense of puhua:

• (minä) puhun – I speak
• (sinä) puhut – you speak (singular)
• (hän) puhuu – he/she speaks
• (me) puhumme – we speak
• (te) puhutte – you speak (plural)
• (he) puhuvat – they speak

So with hän, the correct present tense form is puhuu.

Could the sentence word order be different, like Hän puhuu luonnollisesti suomea kurssilla?

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla.
2. Hän puhuu luonnollisesti suomea kurssilla.
3. Kurssilla hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti.

The basic meaning is the same, but the emphasis shifts slightly:

• Version 1: gentle, neutral order; focus on “speaks Finnish,” then “naturally,” then “(where?) at the course”.
• Version 2: slightly more emphasis on the manner luonnollisesti.
• Version 3: highlights kurssilla (“In class, he/she speaks Finnish naturally” – maybe contrasting with another situation).

Can luonnollisesti also mean “of course” if I move it in the sentence?

Yes, in a different position and context, luonnollisesti can mean “of course”:

• Luonnollisesti hän puhuu suomea kurssilla.
  → “Of course, he/she speaks Finnish in the course.”

Here luonnollisesti acts more like a comment on the whole statement, not just on how he/she speaks. In your original sentence, its position directly after suomea makes it clearly an adverb of manner (“speaks Finnish naturally”).

Why isn’t there any word for “the” or “a” in this sentence?

Finnish does not have articles like English a/an or the.
So:

• Hän puhuu suomea kurssilla. can be:
  • “He/she speaks Finnish in a course.”
  • “He/she speaks Finnish in the course.”
  • “He/she speaks Finnish in class.”

You get a/the meaning from context, not from a separate word.

Could I omit Hän and just say Puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla?

You can sometimes omit subject pronouns in Finnish because the verb ending shows the person. However:

• Dropping minä, sinä, me, te is common in speech.
• Dropping hän and he is less common and can sound incomplete or ambiguous unless the subject is extremely clear from context.

So Hän puhuu suomea luonnollisesti kurssilla is the normal, clear form in neutral style.

Is suomea always partitive when talking about knowing or using a language?

With puhua (to speak) and opiskella (to study), yes, the language is almost always in the partitive:

• puhua suomea / englantia / japania
• opiskella suomea / englantia

With osata (to know how, to be able), languages often appear in the partitive as well:

• Hän osaa suomea. – He/she knows (some) Finnish.

So using suomea instead of suomi is the regular, idiomatic pattern here.

What case is kurssilla exactly, and what are the basic meanings of that case?

Kurssilla is the adessive case (ending -lla / -llä). Its main uses include:

• Location “on/at”:
  
  • pöydällä – on the table
  • asemalla – at the station
  • kurssilla – at the course / in class
• Time with some expressions:
  
  • kesällä – in (the) summer
• With some verbs to mark the person “having” something:
  
  • Minulla on auto. – I have a car. (literally: “At me is a car.”)

In your sentence, it’s the location use: at the course / in the class.