Breakdown of Toistaiseksi kaikki on mennyt hyvin.
olla
to be
hyvin
well
mennä
to go
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
toistaiseksi
for the time being, for now
Questions & Answers about Toistaiseksi kaikki on mennyt hyvin.
How does the word toistaiseksi literally translate to mean "so far"?
It is built from the word toinen (other / second) in the translative case (-ksi). The translative case often expresses a time limit, a deadline, or a state of change. Literally, it means something like "until otherwise" or "for the other time", which naturally translates into English as "so far", "for now", or "until further notice".
The current lesson focuses on the delayed time adverb vasta. Could we use it here instead of toistaiseksi?
You could, but it completely changes the sentence's meaning. Toistaiseksi means the situation has been good continuously up to this point. If you used vasta, as in Vasta kaikki on mennyt hyvin, it would mean "Only now has everything gone well." This would emphasize a delay, heavily implying that things were going poorly before this exact moment.
Why is the verb singular (on mennyt) when kaikki means "all" or "everything"?
When kaikki means "everything" as a general, abstract concept, it acts as a singular subject and takes a singular verb like on mennyt. It only takes a plural verb (like ovat menneet) when it refers to a countable group of individuals, meaning "everyone" or "all of them".
Why use the perfect tense (on mennyt) instead of the simple past tense (meni)?
The adverb toistaiseksi creates an open time frame that directly connects past events to the current moment. The perfect tense (on mennyt, "has gone") reflects this ongoing relevance. Using the simple past tense (meni, "went") would sound contradictory because it implies an action is completely finished and closed off from the present.
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