Breakdown of Kokous on kolmantenakymmenentenä tammikuuta.
olla
to be
tammikuu
January
kokous
meeting (formal)
kolmaskymmenes
thirtieth
Questions & Answers about Kokous on kolmantenakymmenentenä tammikuuta.
Why is the word for the thirtieth so long here?
Welcome to Finnish compound numbers! The word for thirtieth is kolmaskymmenes (literally third tenth). When we put it into the essive case to say on the thirtieth, both halves of the compound word have to change. So kolmas becomes kolmantena, and kymmenes becomes kymmenentenä, combining into kolmantenakymmenentenä.
Why do we use the essive case for the date?
In Finnish, the essive case (which ends in -na or -nä) is used to express when something happens on a specific day or date. Just like you would say maanantaina for on Monday, you use the essive form of the ordinal number to say on the thirtieth.
How do we get the stems for kolmantena and kymmenentenä?
Ordinal numbers ending in -s (like kolmas and kymmenes) use a special stem before adding most case endings. For the essive case, they change to end in -nte-. This is why kolmas turns into the stem kolmante- before adding the -na ending, and kymmenes turns into kymmenente- before adding -nä.
Why is the month tammikuuta in the partitive case?
When stating dates, the month always takes the partitive case, which is why tammikuu gets the -ta ending. You can think of it as saying the thirtieth part of January.
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