Word
Tällä viikolla järjestetään vain yhdet avajaiset.
Meaning
Only one opening ceremony is being organized this week.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Tällä viikolla järjestetään vain yhdet avajaiset.
Why is the plural form yhdet used to mean just one opening ceremony?
The word avajaiset (opening ceremony) is a plurale tantum noun, meaning it is grammatically always plural in Finnish, much like 'scissors' or 'pants' in English. When you count plural-only nouns, the numbers must also take their plural forms. Therefore, the singular yksi becomes the plural yhdet.
Why is the object yhdet avajaiset in the nominative case instead of the partitive or genitive?
The verb järjestetään is in the passive voice. In Finnish, the total object of a passive verb takes the nominative case rather than the genitive-accusative. Since the noun is plural-only, the plural nominative form yhdet avajaiset is used as the object.
Is there a trick to recognizing event words like avajaiset that require plural numbers?
Yes! Words ending in the suffixes -iset or -jaiset are very often plural-only nouns for events, ceremonies, or parties. Examples include läksiäiset (farewell party), päättäjäiset (closing ceremony), and avajaiset. You will always need to use plural numerals like yhdet, kahdet, or kolmet when counting them.
Why does tällä viikolla use the adessive (-lla/-llä) case instead of the inessive (-ssa/-ssä)?