Learn Hardcore Finnish: Palaan kahvilasta kotiin, koska minua väsyttää. - I return home from the café because I feel tired.

palata = dictionary form (infinitive)
palaan = I return / I’m returning Finnish often uses the present tense for near-future actions too, so depending on context it can feel like I’m going back (now).

What case is kahvilasta, and why is it used?

Kahvilasta is elative case (ending -sta/-stä), which expresses movement out of / from inside something.

kahvila = café
kahvilasta = from the café (out of it) So palaan kahvilasta means you are returning from the café.

What case is kotiin, and why does it look irregular compared to other nouns?

Kotiin is illative case, which expresses movement into / to a place.

koti = home
kotiin = (to) home It looks a bit special because koti is a very common word with a common illative form kotiin (not kotihin etc.). More generally, illative often adds an -Vn type ending (a vowel + n) or a longer form depending on the word’s structure.

Why do we have both kahvilasta and kotiin—do Finnish sentences often mark both “from” and “to”?

Yes. Finnish commonly marks both the source and the destination with cases:

kahvilasta (elative) = where you’re coming from
kotiin (illative) = where you’re going to This is very typical with motion verbs like palata, mennä (to go), tulla (to come), lähteä (to leave).

Why is there a comma before koska?

In Finnish, you usually put a comma before koska when it introduces a subordinate clause (a reason clause), similar to English:

Main clause: Palaan kahvilasta kotiin
Reason clause: koska minua väsyttää So the comma is standard punctuation here.

What does koska mean here, and can it also mean when?

Here koska means because (giving a reason). It can also mean when/since in some contexts, but in a sentence like this—with a clear cause-and-effect meaning—it’s understood as because.

Why is it minua (partitive) instead of minä or minut?

Minua is the partitive form of minä (I/me). It appears because väsyttää is an impersonal feeling/need construction that takes the experiencer in the partitive:

minua väsyttää = literally it tires me → idiomatically I feel tired / I’m getting tired So it’s not I doing the action; it’s a state affecting you.

What exactly is väsyttää grammatically? Why is it in 3rd person singular?

Väsyttää is a verb used in an impersonal construction for sensations/states (like nälättää = to feel hungry, janottaa = to feel thirsty). It stays in 3rd person singular because there is no normal subject doing the action:

minua väsyttää = I feel tired (literally it is tiring me) This is why you don’t conjugate it as väsyn in this structure.

How is minua väsyttää different from olen väsynyt?

Both can translate as I’m tired, but the nuance differs:

minua väsyttää = I feel tired / I’m getting sleepy/tired (a feeling coming on; more experiential)
olen väsynyt = I am tired (a more direct statement of your state) In many everyday contexts they’re interchangeable, but minua väsyttää often sounds more like the tiredness is affecting you right now.

Is the word order flexible? Could I say Koska minua väsyttää, palaan kahvilasta kotiin?

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially for emphasis. Both are correct:

Palaan kahvilasta kotiin, koska minua väsyttää. (neutral: action first, then reason)
Koska minua väsyttää, palaan kahvilasta kotiin. (puts the reason first; slightly more emphasis on the cause) The comma remains because you still have a subordinate clause.

How do you pronounce the tricky parts, especially kahvilasta and väsyttää?

Key pronunciation tips:

kahvilasta: stress on the first syllable: KAH-vi-las-ta
kotiin: the ii is long: ko-TIIN
väsyttää: ä is like the vowel in cat (but more front), and tt is a long consonant you hold: VÄ-syt-tää In Finnish, double vowels and double consonants are long and can change meaning, so it’s worth exaggerating them while practicing.