Breakdown of Messut ovat elokuussa, viidentenätoista.
olla
to be
elokuu
August
viidestoista
fifteenth
messut
fair
Questions & Answers about Messut ovat elokuussa, viidentenätoista.
Why does the sentence use the plural verb ovat when the English translation says "the fair is"?
The word for "fair" or "exhibition", messut, is always plural in Finnish, even when referring to a single event. Because the subject is plural, the verb must also be the plural ovat.
Why isn't the word for August, elokuussa, capitalized?
In Finnish, months of the year, days of the week, and languages are written with lowercase letters. The ending -ssa (meaning "in") is added to the base word elokuu to mean "in August".
What is the ending on viidentenätoista and why is it used here?
It uses the essive case, which here is the -nä part in the middle of the word. In Finnish, you use the essive case to express when something happens on a specific day or date, translating to "on the" in English.
How is the word viidentenätoista built from the number 15?
It comes from the ordinal number viidestoista (fifteenth). For teen numbers (11-19) in Finnish, only the first part of the word changes case. The first part changes to the essive form viidentenä, while the second part, -toista, stays exactly the same.