Learn Finnish: Sinun on aika aloittaa suursiivous, vaikka asunto ei tyhjene heti. - It is time for you to start the deep cleaning, even though the apartment won't empty immediately.

Sinun on aika aloittaa suursiivous, vaikka asunto ei tyhjene heti.

It is time for you to start the deep cleaning, even though the apartment won't empty immediately.

Breakdown of Sinun on aika aloittaa suursiivous, vaikka asunto ei tyhjene heti.

no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)

aika

time (concept, duration)

Questions & Answers about Sinun on aika aloittaa suursiivous, vaikka asunto ei tyhjene heti.

Why is the object suursiivous in the nominative case instead of the accusative suursiivouksen?

This is the core rule of the nominal necessity construction you are learning! When an action is driven by phrases like on aika (it is time) or on pakko (it is necessary) plus a first infinitive (aloittaa), the object of that action drops its normal accusative ending. It appears in the nominative case instead: aloittaa suursiivous.

Why is it Sinun on aika (genitive) instead of Sinulla on aikaa (adessive)?

This highlights the difference between 'It is time for you to...' and 'You have time to...'. In necessity constructions like on aika, the person who needs to act is the genitive subject (Sinun). If you wanted to say 'You have time to start the deep cleaning', you would use the adessive possessive structure: Sinulla on aikaa aloittaa... (note that the word aika also changes to the partitive case here).

What is the base form of the verb in ei tyhjene?

The base form is tyhjetä (to empty, to become empty), which is a Type 6 verb. These verbs typically describe a change of state. To find the stem, you replace the -tä ending with -ne-. This gives us the positive form tyhjenee (it empties) and the negative form ei tyhjene (it doesn't empty).

Why use tyhjetä here instead of the more common verb (to empty)?