Kahvilan

Kahvilan is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun kahvila, meaning “the cafe” or “a cafe” in possessive or relational use. It is used to show ownership, association, or origin, as in phrases describing something related to a cafe.

The word kahvila is formed from kahvi (coffee) plus the place-making suffix -la. The genitive ending -n attaches to kahvila to indicate possession or close relation, yielding kahvilan. In Finnish, possessive or relational meaning is often expressed without articles, relying on case endings and context rather than a definite or indefinite article.

Common uses include identifying what belongs to a cafe, such as kahvilan ovi (the cafe’s door), kahvilan henkilökunta (the cafe’s staff), or kahvilan asiakkaita (the cafe’s customers). It can also indicate origin or association in phrases like kahvilan toiminta (the cafe’s operation) or kahvilan menu (the cafe’s menu).

Grammatically, kahvilan functions as a noun in the genitive case and can modify another noun in noun phrases, serving a similar role to possessive constructions in languages with explicit possessive markers. Because Finnish lacks articles, kahvilan phrases derive definiteness from context, surrounding words, or accompanying demonstratives like tämän kahvilan (this cafe’s) or tuon kahvilan (that cafe’s).

Overall, kahvilan is a fundamental form for expressing ownership and relation to a cafe in Finnish, widely used in everyday language to describe features, ownership, and associations linked to a cafe.