Viime viikolla hän ei käynyt teatterissa, koska hänellä ei ollut aikaa.

to be

Breakdown of Viime viikolla hän ei käynyt teatterissa, koska hänellä ei ollut aikaa.

• hän: he/she
• -ssa: in
• koska: because
• aika: the time
• -llä: on
• viime: last
• viikko: the week
• teatteri: the theatre
• ei: not
• käydä: to go
• ei: not

Questions & Answers about Viime viikolla hän ei käynyt teatterissa, koska hänellä ei ollut aikaa.

What does viime viikolla mean and how is it constructed?

Viime viikolla translates to "last week". Here, viime means "last" and viikolla is the noun viikko (week) in a locative case (similar to the inessive or adessive, depending on context) that indicates time. It tells us when the event happened.

Why is the negative sentence formed as hän ei käynyt teatterissa using käynyt instead of the affirmative past kävi?

In Finnish, when negating a past action, the auxiliary ei is used together with the main verb in a special form. Although the affirmative past of käydä is kävi, in negative past constructions the main verb appears in a form resembling the past participle, which in this case is käynyt. This is a typical pattern in Finnish negation.

In the clause koska hänellä ei ollut aikaa, why is it hänellä instead of simply hän?

Finnish expresses possession by putting the possessor in the adessive case. Hänellä literally means "with him/her" and is used with the verb olla (to have) to indicate possession. Thus, hänellä ei ollut aikaa correctly means "he/she did not have time" rather than using the nominative form hän, which wouldn’t convey possession.

What role does the conjunction koska play in this sentence?

Koska is a subordinating conjunction meaning "because". It introduces a reason clause that explains why the action in the main clause (not going to the theatre) occurred. Essentially, it links the lack of time directly to the decision not to visit the theatre.

Why is the word teatterissa used with the -ssa ending, and what does that indicate?

Teatterissa is formed by adding the -ssa ending to teatteri (theatre), which makes it the inessive case. The inessive case is used to express location, so teatterissa means "in the theatre". In the context of this sentence, it indicates where the action (or expected action) takes place.

Is the comma before koska required in Finnish, or is it optional?

Punctuation in Finnish can be a bit flexible. The comma before koska is often used to clearly separate the main clause from the subordinate (reason) clause. Although some writers might omit it in less formal contexts, including the comma is generally recommended for clarity, especially for learners trying to understand sentence structure.