Breakdown of Kuinka paljon aikaa meillä on?
olla
to be
me
we
paljon
a lot
aika
time (concept, duration)
kuinka
how
Questions & Answers about Kuinka paljon aikaa meillä on?
Why does the word for time have an extra 'a' at the end (aikaa instead of aika)?
Because it follows the word paljon (much or a lot). In Finnish, words that express an undefined quantity or amount require the following noun to be in the partitive case. The partitive form of aika (time) is aikaa.
Where is the verb for 'to have' in this sentence?
Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, you use the adessive ending -llä or -lla (which roughly means 'on' or 'at') on the person, followed by the verb on (is). Here, meillä on literally means 'on us is', which is the standard Finnish way to say 'we have'.
Since the sentence is about 'we' (meillä), why is the verb on (is) instead of olemme (we are)?
In the Finnish 'to have' structure, the person who has something is not the grammatical subject. The verb olla (to be) is always locked in the third-person singular form (on) in these sentences, regardless of who is doing the having. The sentence literally works like 'how much time is on us?'.
Does the phrase kuinka paljon only work for asking about time?
Not at all! Kuinka paljon just means 'how much' or 'how many'. You can use it to ask about the amount of anything, such as kuinka paljon rahaa (how much money). Just remember that the thing you are measuring must always be put in the partitive case.
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