Breakdown of Olin kärsivällinen ja odotin viikon, kunnes paketti saapui.
olla
to be
ja
and
odottaa
to wait
paketti
the package
viikko
week
saapua
to arrive
kunnes
until
kärsivällinen
patient
Questions & Answers about Olin kärsivällinen ja odotin viikon, kunnes paketti saapui.
How does the word kunnes affect the word order of the clause that follows it?
Kunnes starts a subordinate clause (a dependent sentence part). In Finnish, subordinate clauses usually follow standard word order, which is Subject-Verb-Object. Here, the subject paketti directly follows kunnes, and the verb saapui comes right after it.
Why is the word for week in the form viikon instead of the basic form viikko?
In Finnish, when you express how long an action lasts (a duration of time), you usually put the time word in the genitive-like accusative case, which ends in -n. Because you waited for a full week, viikko becomes viikon.
The word kärsivällinen (patient) is quite long. Is it related to any other common words?
Yes, it is based on the verb kärsiä, which means to suffer or to endure. The ending -llinen is often used to form adjectives that describe someone's character or quality, so kärsivällinen implies someone who is capable of enduring.
Notice that both odotin (I waited) and saapui (arrived) are in the past tense. Does a kunnes clause always have to match the tense of the main sentence?
Not necessarily, it just depends on when things happen. Here, both the waiting and the arriving happened in the past. If you were talking about the future, you would use the present tense for both clauses: Odotan, kunnes paketti saapuu (I will wait until the package arrives).
Learn Olin kärsivällinen ja odotin viikon, kunnes paketti saapui and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free