Minä menettän aikaa.

I lose time.

Breakdown of Minä menettän aikaa.

• minä: I
• aika: the time
• menettää: to lose

Questions & Answers about Minä menettän aikaa.

What does each word in the sentence Minä menettän aikaa. mean?

Minä means I. Menettän is the first-person singular form of the verb menettää, which means to lose or, in this context, to waste. Aikaa is the partitive form of aika, meaning time.

Why is the subject pronoun Minä explicitly mentioned, even though Finnish often omits subject pronouns?

In Finnish, verb conjugations already indicate the subject, so it’s common to drop the pronoun. However, including Minä can add emphasis or clarity, which is especially helpful for learners to reinforce who is performing the action.

Why is aikaa in the partitive case instead of the nominative?

Many Finnish verbs that express an action involving an undefined or incomplete quantity require the object to be in the partitive case. Since menettää implies losing or wasting an indefinite amount of time, aikaa is correctly in the partitive.

How is the verb menettää conjugated in this sentence?

In Minä menettän aikaa., the verb menettää is conjugated for the first-person singular as menettän. This form clearly indicates that the subject Minä (I) is performing the action of losing or wasting time.

Can menettää be used interchangeably with a verb like tuhlaa when talking about wasting time, and what is the difference in meaning?

Although both verbs can describe the concept of wasting time, menettää generally means to lose or to waste more broadly, while tuhlaa specifically implies to squander or to waste carelessly. The choice between them depends on the nuance of the action you wish to express.