Breakdown of Kello on kymmenen minuuttia yli neljä.
olla
to be
kello
watch / clock (the time)
neljä
four
kymmenen
ten
yli
past / over / across
minuutti
minute
Questions & Answers about Kello on kymmenen minuuttia yli neljä.
Why is it minuuttia instead of minuutti?
In Finnish, when you count with a number greater than one, the noun following it must be in the partitive case. Since there are ten (kymmenen) minutes, the basic word minuutti takes the partitive ending -a to become minuuttia.
What does yli mean in this sentence?
The word yli literally means "over" or "across". In time expressions, it is the standard word used to mean "past" the hour. So, you are literally saying the time is ten minutes "over" four.
Why doesn't the hour (neljä) change its ending?
When you are simply stating what the current time is using Kello on... (The clock is...), the numbers for the hours stay in their basic dictionary form. They don't need any special grammatical endings here.
Do I always have to say the word minuuttia?
No, in spoken Finnish, people often drop the word for minutes entirely. It is very common to just say Kello on kymmenen yli neljä (It is ten past four).
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