Breakdown of Kello on kaksitoista, ja minulla ei ole aikaa.
olla
to be
minä
I
ja
and
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
kello
watch / clock (the time)
aika
time (concept, duration)
kaksitoista
twelve
Questions & Answers about Kello on kaksitoista, ja minulla ei ole aikaa.
How is the number kaksitoista (twelve) formed?
In Finnish, the numbers 11 through 19 are made by taking the base number and adding -toista. This literally means "of the second" (referring to the second group of ten). So kaksi (two) plus toista becomes kaksitoista!
Why does the sentence use both kello and aikaa for the English word "time"?
Kello literally means "clock" or "watch", so Kello on kaksitoista is how you say "The time is twelve" (literally: "The clock is twelve"). Aika refers to time as a general concept or a resource, which is why it is used in the second half when saying "I don't have time".
Why is it aikaa instead of just aika at the end of the sentence?
Aikaa is in the partitive case. In Finnish, whenever you have a negative "have" sentence (using minulla ei ole), the thing you do not have must always take the partitive ending.
How does minulla ei ole translate to "I don't have"?
Finnish doesn't have a direct verb for "to have". To say you have something, you put the -lla ending on a person (making minulla, meaning "on me" or "at me") and add the verb "to be". To make it negative, you simply change on (is) to ei ole (is not). Literally, the second half of the sentence means "and at me is not time".
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