Questions & Answers about Voi ei! Minulla ei ole rahaa.
Since we are learning the past tense of "olla", how would I change this to say "I had no money"?
To make it past tense, you change the present tense word ole to the negative past form ollut. So, "I had no money" is Minulla ei ollut rahaa.
Why do we use "Minulla" instead of "Minä"?
Finnish doesn't have a direct verb for "to have". Instead, you literally say "At me is" or "At me is not". Minulla means "at me", which is the standard way to express ownership in Finnish.
Why is it "ei ole" and not "en ole" since I am the one talking?
In "have" sentences, the verb doesn't match the person who owns the thing. Because the literal translation is "At me (money) is not", the verb acts like a "he/she/it" third-person verb. You use ei ole, never en ole, for "I do not have".
Why does the word for money end in an extra "a" (rahaa instead of raha)?
Rahaa is in the partitive case. In Finnish, whenever you have a negative ownership sentence (saying you do not have something), the thing you don't have must always be in the partitive case.