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Questions & Answers about Minulla on vähän rahaa tänään.
Why do we say Minulla on instead of Minä olen to express “I have”?
Finnish doesn’t use a verb like “to have” the same way English does. Instead it uses the verb olla (“to be”) plus the possessor in the adessive case. Minulla is “I” + -lla (“at me”), and on is the third-person form of olla. So literally it means “(there) is a little money at me,” i.e. “I have a little money.”
What case is Minulla, and why is it used here?
Minulla is the adessive case of minä (“I”), marked by -lla. In Finnish possession clauses, the possessor takes the adessive, showing “location” of the object (“at me”), while the thing possessed is the sentence’s subject or complement.
Why is the verb on third-person singular and not first-person olen?
In the structure Minulla on X, the grammatical subject is the thing you “have” (X), not the possessor. Since that subject is singular, the verb agrees in third person (on). The possessor (Minulla) is just an adverbial element.
Why is rahaa in the partitive case?
Mass nouns and indefinite quantities in Finnish take the partitive. Here, rahaa (“money”) is an uncountable amount introduced by the quantifier vähän, so it remains in the partitive. Partitive also signals “partial” or “some of it,” rather than the whole.
What role does vähän play in this sentence?
Vähän means “a little” or “some, but not much.” It’s a quantifier that modifies rahaa and indicates the amount is small or potentially insufficient. When you want to stress that you only have a little, you use vähän.
Could we say Minulla on rahaa without vähän? How does the meaning change?
Yes. Minulla on rahaa simply means “I have money” (some unspecified amount). Adding vähän changes it to “I have a little money,” emphasizing that it isn’t much. Without vähän, you’re not commenting on whether that amount is small or large.
Can I use a synonym like hieman instead of vähän?
Absolutely. Hieman also means “a bit” or “slightly” and works the same way, taking a following partitive: Minulla on hieman rahaa tänään. It’s slightly more formal than vähän.
Why is tänään at the end of the sentence? Could it come at the front?
Finnish word order is quite flexible. Tänään is a time adverb (“today”) and can appear at the beginning, middle, or end. Placing it first (Tänään minulla on vähän rahaa) simply shifts the emphasis onto “today.” All versions are grammatically correct.
I’ve heard Mulla on in spoken Finnish. Is it the same as Minulla on?
Yes. Mulla on is a colloquial contraction of Minulla on, very common in everyday speech. It’s fine in informal contexts but should be avoided in formal writing or when learning standard grammar.