Breakdown of Junan lähtö on kello kymmenen.
olla
to be
juna
train
kello
watch / clock (the time)
kymmenen
ten
lähtö
departure
Questions & Answers about Junan lähtö on kello kymmenen.
Is the noun lähtö related to the postposition lähtien from this lesson?
Yes, they share the exact same root! Both come from the verb lähteä (to leave, to depart). While lähtö is the action noun for "departure", lähtien originally developed from a participle of lähteä to mean "departing from" or "starting from" and has now fossilized into a postposition.
Why use the genitive in junan lähtö rather than forming a compound word?
Action nouns like lähtö usually take a genitive modifier to show who or what is performing the action. Junan lähtö specifies this particular train's departure. A compound word might imply a generic concept rather than a specific real-world event.
In English we say "at ten", so why doesn't this sentence use the adessive case kello kymmeneltä?
Because the time is simply describing the noun via the verb olla (is). The sentence structure is essentially "The departure is ten o'clock." If you were describing an action happening at that time with an active verb, you would use the adessive, for example: Juna lähtee kello kymmeneltä (The train leaves at ten).
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