Minulla on monta kissaa.

I have many cats.

Breakdown of Minulla on monta kissaa.

• minä: I
• kissa: the cat
• monta: many

Questions & Answers about Minulla on monta kissaa.

What is the function of minulla in this sentence?

Minulla is the 1st person singular form of minä (“I”) in the adessive case. In Finnish, the adessive case (often translated as “at” or “by”) is used to indicate possession. So minulla on literally means “at me is,” which is how Finnish expresses “I have.”

Why is the verb olla (“to be”) used instead of a direct equivalent of “have”?

Finnish does not have a dedicated verb that means “to have.” Instead, possession is expressed by using olla (“to be”) together with the possessor in the adessive case. Therefore, minulla on is used to convey the idea “I have.”

Why is kissaa in the partitive case, even though cats are countable?

In Finnish, when you describe an indefinite or non-specific quantity—like “many” in monta—the object is put in the partitive case. Even though cats are countable, the phrase monta kissaa (many cats) uses the partitive kissaa to reflect that the number is indefinite rather than exact.

What does monta mean, and how is it used with countable nouns?

Monta is an adjective meaning “many.” It is used with countable nouns to indicate a large, non-specific number of items. This is different from adjectives like paljon, which are used with mass (uncountable) nouns. In our sentence, monta correctly modifies kissaa to express “many cats.”