The Relative Temporal Adverb: jolloin
When talking about family history and turning points in the past, you will often need to link a specific time period to an event. In Finnish, you do this using the relative temporal adverb jolloin (when / at which time).
| when / at which time (relative) | jolloin |
Important: Do not confuse jolloin with milloin. Milloin is a question word used to ask "when?". Jolloin is a relative word used strictly to connect clauses, pointing back to a time-related word in the first half of the sentence.
Referring to Units of Time
You will typically place jolloin immediately after a clause that mentions a specific unit of time, such as a year (vuosi), a time (aika), or a time period (ajanjakso).
| He tells a story about the year when the ancestors arrived. | Hän kertoo tarinan vuodesta, jolloin esivanhemmat saapuivat. |
| We research the time when the ancestors settled in the country. | Me tutkimme aikaa, jolloin esivanhemmat asettuivat maahan. |
| I am doing genealogy about the period when they settled in the north. | Teen sukututkimusta ajanjaksosta, jolloin he asettuivat pohjoiseen. |
Referring to Historical Events
Jolloin does not just attach to literal clock or calendar words. It can also refer back to historical events or eras that act as time periods, such as a depression (lamakausi) or a year of famine (nälkävuosi).
| This was a difficult depression when many lost their jobs, so the family's fate changed. | Tämä oli vaikea lamakausi, jolloin moni menetti työpaikan, joten perheen kohtalo muuttui. |
| It was a year of famine when grandfather became an immigrant. | Se oli nälkävuosi, jolloin isoisästä tuli siirtolainen. |
Everyday Usage
While highly useful for formal writing and historical contexts like genealogy, jolloin is also completely natural in everyday, colloquial spoken Finnish. You can use it whenever you need to define "the year when" or "the day when" something happened.
| That is the year when we met. | Toi on se vuosi, jolloin me tavattiin. |