Breakdown of Keväällä loma on hauska, mutta talvella se on tylsä.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
mutta
but
loma
vacation
talvi
winter
tylsä
boring
kevät
spring
hauska
fun
Questions & Answers about Keväällä loma on hauska, mutta talvella se on tylsä.
Why do we use the endings -llä and -lla on the seasons instead of a word for 'in'?
In Finnish, you generally do not use a separate preposition for 'in' or 'on' when talking about time. To say 'in the spring' or 'in the winter', you add the ending -lla or -llä directly to the season. This ending is called the adessive case.
Why is the ending for spring -llä (keväällä) but the ending for winter is -lla (talvella)?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word kevät has the front vowel ä, so it takes the front vowel ending -llä. The word talvi has the back vowel a, so it takes the back vowel ending -lla.
The basic word for spring is kevät. How does it become keväällä?
Many Finnish words ending in -t undergo a stem change before you add an ending. The -t drops out and the preceding vowel doubles. So, kevät becomes the stem kevää-, and then you add the -llä ending.
Why do we use se for the vacation here?
The word se means 'it'. In proper written Finnish, it is used to refer to inanimate objects and animals. Here it replaces loma (vacation) so we do not have to repeat the word in the second half of the sentence.
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