Työnantaja antoi minulle lomaa ensi viikolla.

The employer gave me a vacation next week.

Breakdown of Työnantaja antoi minulle lomaa ensi viikolla.

• minä: I
• antaa: to give
• loma: the vacation
• työnantaja: the employer
• ensi viikko: next week

Questions & Answers about Työnantaja antoi minulle lomaa ensi viikolla.

What are the grammatical roles of each element in the sentence?

Työnantaja is the subject in the nominative case (meaning employer). Antoi is the past tense form of antaa (to give). Minulle is the indirect object, marked with the allative case to mean to me. Lomaa is the direct object in the partitive case, indicating an indefinite or partial quantity of leave. Finally, ensi viikolla is a time expression where ensi means next and viikolla is the adessive form of viikko (week), together specifying when the leave is scheduled.

Why is lomaa in the partitive case rather than in a form like the accusative?

In Finnish, the partitive case is often used for direct objects when the noun represents an indefinite amount or when the action is not seen as completely affecting a whole entity. Here, lomaa is in the partitive to express that the leave is not considered a complete, countable unit but rather an indefinite period of time off.

How does the sentence indicate the indirect object, and what does minulle mean?

Finnish marks indirect objects through case endings instead of using prepositions. Minulle is the allative (often considered the dative equivalent) form of minä (I), which directly translates as to me—identifying the recipient of the action without any additional words.

Why is the past tense form antoi used even though the time expression points to next week?

The verb antoi (gave) shows that the action of granting leave occurred in the past. The time expression ensi viikolla refers to when the leave will actually be taken. This structure indicates that although the decision (giving the leave) was made previously, the leave itself is planned for a future time.

What is the structure and function of the time expression ensi viikolla in this sentence?

Ensi viikolla is composed of ensi (next) and viikolla, which is the adessive form of viikko (week). The adessive case here functions similarly to a prepositional phrase in English, specifying the time when the leave is scheduled to occur.

Why does the sentence not include any articles such as the before Työnantaja?

Finnish does not have articles like the or a. Instead, meaning is conveyed through word order and case endings. Therefore, Työnantaja stands alone without an article, and its role as the subject is clear from its position and form.