Breakdown of Toi on se vuosi, jolloin me tavattiin.
olla
to be
tuo
that
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
me
we
vuosi
year
tavata
to meet
jolloin
when / at which time (relative)
Questions & Answers about Toi on se vuosi, jolloin me tavattiin.
Why do we use jolloin here instead of kun for "when"?
kun is a conjunction used to connect two events (like "when I arrived, he left"). jolloin is a relative word that refers back to a specific time word in the previous clause. Here, it points back to se vuosi (the year), meaning "the year during which".
Is toi a different version of tuo?
Yes, toi is the very common spoken Finnish version of tuo (that). Because this sentence is highly conversational, using toi feels much more natural here than the standard written tuo.
Why is the verb tavattiin used for "we met" instead of tapasimme?
In spoken Finnish, the pronoun me (we) is almost always paired with the passive form of the verb rather than the standard personal form. So instead of the written standard me tapasimme, you will almost always hear me tavattiin.
What is the purpose of se before vuosi?
Finnish doesn't technically have words for "a" or "the", but in everyday speech, se (it) is frequently used just like the definite article "the" in English. Here, it emphasizes that it is the specific year.
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