Different ways of asking the time:
- Mitä kello on? - What time is it?
- (Kuinka) paljon kello on? Paljonko kello on? - How much is the clock?
- Onko sulla kelloa? - Do you have a watch/clock?
If you already know the numbers from 1 to 12, all you have to learn is these words:
- yli - past, over
- vaille / vailla - to (Either one is fine.)
- puoli - half (Notice that we say half something instead of half past.)
We also use the numbers 13-24 in association with the clock, but you won't hear them in colloquial speech unless somebody wants to be very specific. On tv, you could hear something like Uutiset alkavat tänään kello kaksikymmentäkaksi neljäkymmentä. (Today, the news will start at twenty two forty 22.40).
Some basic time expressions:
- Kello on viisi yli seitsemän - The clock is five past seven.
- Onko se jo puoli yhdeksän? - Is it half past eight already? ("Half nine")
- Bussi lähtee kaksikymmentä vaille kahdeksan. - The bus leaves at twenty to eight.
- Elokuva alkaa vartin yli kymmenen. - The movie starts at a quarter past ten.
- Notice the partitive in expressions with 'vaille':
When? At what time?
- Milloin / Koska te tulette? - When will you come?
- Mihin aikaan se loppuu? - At what time will it end? (Often monelta in spoken language)
When something happens at an even hour or half past, you need the ablative ending lta/ltä.
| Mitä kello on? What time it is? | Milloin? When? | |
| 1 | Yksi | Yhdeltä |
| 2 | Kaksi | Kahdelta |
| 3 | Kolme | Kolmelta |
| 4 | Neljä | Neljältä |
| 5 | Viisi | Viideltä |
| 6 | Kuusi | Kuudelta |
| 7 | Seitsemän | Seitsemältä |
| 8 | Kahdeksan | Kahdeksalta |
| 9 | Yhdeksän | Yhdeksältä |
| 10 | Kymmenen | Kymmeneltä |
| 11 | Yksitoista | Yhdeltätoista |
| 12 | Kaksitoista | Kahdeltatoista |
Notice that the d isn't really pronounced in spoken language. Instead, people say kaheksan, yheksän, yheltä, kahelta etc.
Do you want to know more about the numbers? Here's a post about the numbers in partitive and in genitive cases and here's another one about the ordinal numbers.
Do you want to know more about the numbers? Here's a post about the numbers in partitive and in genitive cases and here's another one about the ordinal numbers.
About the author of Random Finnish Lesson:
My name is Hanna Männikkölahti. I am a professional Finnish teacher who gives private online lessons and simplifies books into easy Finnish. Please read more in www.linktr.ee/hannamannikkolahti and follow this blog, if you want to be the first one to know when I post something new.
1 comment:
>Notice that when something happens at an even hour or half past, you need the ablative ending lta/ltä.
I've noticed in Suomen Mestari 2 that -lta ending goes also with quarters: viisitoista yli kolmelta (klo 15.15). Is it correct?
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