Learn Finnish: Kävitkö matkatoimistossa, kun asioit kaupungissa? - Did you visit the travel agency when you ran errands in the city?

The verb käydä (to visit) requires a static location case, usually the inessive (-ssa/-ssä, "in") or the adessive (-lla/-llä, "at/on"). Even though English says "to visit a place," Finnish treats käydä as the act of being briefly in a place and then leaving. So you literally ask, "Did you visit in the travel agency?"

How can you tell that asioit (you ran errands) is in the past tense here?

The verb asioida (to run errands) is a type 2 verb ending in -da. Its present tense is asioit (you run errands) and its past tense is also asioit (you ran errands). This happens because the past tense marker -i- blends into the existing -i at the end of the stem (asioi-). We know it means "ran errands" here because the main verb of the sentence, kävitkö, establishes that we are talking about the past.

What exactly does the verb asioida mean?

Asioida comes from the noun asia (matter, thing, errand). It generally means "to run errands," "to do business," or "to deal with matters" as a customer. So asioit kaupungissa means you were in town taking care of business or running personal errands.

What are the parts of the word matkatoimisto?