Breakdown of Onko teillä seitsemäntoista vai seitsemänkymmentä euroa?
olla
to be
te
you (plural/formal)
vai
or (in questions)
euro
euro
Questions & Answers about Onko teillä seitsemäntoista vai seitsemänkymmentä euroa?
Why does the sentence use Onko teillä to mean 'Do you have'?
Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, it uses a structure that literally means 'at someone is something'. The word teillä means 'at you' (plural or formal). The verb is on (is), and the -ko ending turns it into a question. So Onko teillä literally translates to 'Is at you?'.
Both vai and tai mean 'or'. Why use vai here?
In Finnish, vai is used specifically in questions where you expect the listener to pick one of the options (like asking if they have exactly 17 or exactly 70). You use tai in normal statements, or in questions where the answer could just be a simple 'yes' or 'no'.
How do you form long numbers like seitsemäntoista (17) and seitsemänkymmentä (70)?
The teens from 11 to 19 are made by taking the basic number and adding -toista. So seitsemän (7) becomes seitsemäntoista (17). The multiples of ten are made by adding -kymmentä to the basic number. So 7 becomes seitsemänkymmentä (70).
Why is the word for euro written as euroa?