Hän ei ollut kovin onnellinen eilen, koska bussi oli myöhässä.

He/She was not very happy yesterday because the bus was late.

Breakdown of Hän ei ollut kovin onnellinen eilen, koska bussi oli myöhässä.

• olla: to be
• hän: he/she
• koska: because
• eilen: yesterday
• ei: not
• bussi: the bus
• onnellinen: happy
• kovin: very
• myöhäinen: late

Questions & Answers about Hän ei ollut kovin onnellinen eilen, koska bussi oli myöhässä.

What does the pronoun hän indicate, and how does it differ from English pronouns in terms of gender?

Hän translates as “he” or “she” in English. In Finnish, this single gender-neutral pronoun is used for all people; the speaker must rely on context to understand the intended gender.

How is negation constructed in the sentence “Hän ei ollut kovin onnellinen eilen”?

Finnish forms negation by placing the negative auxiliary ei before the main verb. In this sentence, oli is the past tense of the verb olla ("to be"), so ei ollut means “was not.” This construction is standard for expressing negatives in Finnish.

What role does the adverb kovin play, and how does it affect the meaning of onnellinen?

The word kovin intensifies the adjective onnellinen (“happy”). Literally, kovin means “very” and would normally amplify the quality described. However, because of the preceding negation (ei ollut), the overall meaning becomes “not very happy,” indicating that the degree of happiness was low without completely negating it.

How do the words eilen and koska function within the sentence?

Eilen means “yesterday” and serves as an adverb specifying when the event occurred. Koska means “because” and introduces the subordinate clause that explains the reason behind the state described in the main clause. Their usage shows how temporal and causal information is conveyed in Finnish.

How is the concept of lateness conveyed in bussi oli myöhässä?

In bussi oli myöhässä, bussi means “bus,” oli is the past tense of olla (“to be”), and myöhässä means “late.” Notably, myöhässä is formed to describe a state (using a case that expresses a temporary condition), effectively indicating that “the bus was late.”

Why does the sentence not include an article before bussi?

Finnish does not use articles like “a” or “the.” Nouns such as bussi appear without markers of definiteness or indefiniteness, and context is used to imply meaning that English might otherwise express with an article.

How might a literal translation of this sentence differ from a more natural English rendition?

A literal translation might read: “He/She was not very happy yesterday, because bus was late.” However, to sound natural in English, it is adjusted to: “He/She wasn’t very happy yesterday because the bus was late.” The alteration reflects English requirements for articles and a slightly modified word order to ensure clarity and fluency.