Breakdown of Meillä ei ole aikaa etsiä uutta ateljeeta.
olla
to be
me
we
uusi
new
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
aika
time (concept, duration)
etsiä
to look for
ateljee
studio (artist's)
Questions & Answers about Meillä ei ole aikaa etsiä uutta ateljeeta.
Why is the object uutta ateljeeta in the partitive case here?
The verb etsiä (to look for, to search) is a partitive verb. It expresses an ongoing, irresultative action—you are searching, but haven't found the object yet. Because of this, its object must always be in the partitive case.
Why does ateljee take the -ta ending to become ateljeeta instead of just -a?
The noun ateljee (studio) is a loanword that ends in a long vowel (-ee). In Finnish, words that end in a long vowel or a diphthong form their partitive by adding -ta or -tä rather than just a single vowel.
Why is aikaa in the partitive case after ei ole?
This is a negative possession sentence (Meillä ei ole...). In a negative "have" structure, the thing that is not possessed must always be in the partitive case. Note that even in a positive sentence (Meillä on aikaa), aika would often take the partitive because it is being treated as an uncountable, abstract amount of time.
Why do we use the first infinitive etsiä directly after a noun like aikaa?
In Finnish, the first infinitive (the dictionary form) can be attached directly to certain abstract nouns like aika (time), lupa (permission), or mahdollisuus (opportunity) to express purpose. It maps perfectly to English in this instance: aikaa etsiä literally means "time to look for".
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