Breakdown of Konsertti on kahdentenakymmenentenäkuudentena.
olla
to be
konsertti
concert
kahdeskymmeneskuudes
twenty-sixth
Questions & Answers about Konsertti on kahdentenakymmenentenäkuudentena.
Why is the word for "on the twenty-sixth" so incredibly long?
In Finnish, when an ordinal number is made up of multiple parts (like the 2nd, the 10th, and the 6th), every part of the number has to be in the ordinal form and take the same case ending. Here, the words for two (kaksi), ten (kymmenen), and six (kuusi) all become ordinals, and they all take the essive case ending to mean "on the...". Finally, they are written together as one single compound word.
How does the base word kahdeskymmeneskuudes (twenty-sixth) turn into kahdentenakymmenentenäkuudentena?
To say that an event happens "on" a specific date, you must use the essive case ending, which is -na or -nä. For ordinal numbers ending in -s (like kahdes, kymmenes, and kuudes), the word stem changes to -nte- before you add the ending. Therefore, kahdes becomes kahdentena, kymmenes becomes kymmenentenä, and kuudes becomes kuudentena. Put them all together, and you have your date!
Why does the middle part use the -nä ending, while the first and last parts use -na?
This happens because of vowel harmony! In long compound words, each individual part follows its own vowel harmony rules. Kahdentena and kuudentena use the back vowel ending -na because their root words contain back vowels (a and u). Kymmenentenä uses the front vowel ending -nä because its root word only contains the neutral vowel e, which defaults to front-vowel endings.
Do Finns actually use this huge word in everyday conversations?
In written, official, or formal Finnish, yes! But don't panic—in casual spoken Finnish, people often simplify things. A common shortcut is to leave the "twenty" part in its basic spoken form and only inflect the last number, saying something like kakskytkuudentena. You might also hear people just use the basic ordinal form and add the word päivä (day), like kakskytkuudes päivä.
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