Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna.

We have a shopping trip tomorrow.

Breakdown of Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna.

• me: we
• huomenna: tomorrow
• ostosmatka: the shopping trip

Questions & Answers about Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna.

Why is Meillä on used to mean “we have” instead of a verb like “to have”?

Finnish doesn’t use a separate verb for “to have.” Instead it uses the existential verb olla (to be) plus a locative case form of the person who has something.

• Meillä is the adessive form of me (we), literally “at us.”
• on is the 3rd person singular of olla.
  So Meillä on ostosmatka literally means “At us is a shopping trip,” i.e. “We have a shopping trip.”

What case is meillä and what does it express here?

meillä is the adessive case of the personal pronoun me (we). The adessive typically indicates:

1. Location at something (at us)
2. Possession in existential sentences (we have)
   In Meillä on … this case marks the possessor of whatever follows.

What is ostosmatka, and how is it formed?

ostosmatka is a compound noun:

• ostos = shopping (from ostaa, to buy)
• matka = journey, trip
  Put together, ostosmatka means shopping trip.

Why is there no article a or the before ostosmatka?

Finnish has no definite or indefinite articles like a/an/the. Whether something is definite or indefinite is understood from context, word order, or case form—not a separate word.

Why is ostosmatka in the nominative singular after on?

After the existential/copular verb olla, a singular countable noun in an affirmative sentence normally appears in the nominative. That nominative form is the “predicate” of on, not a direct object. If you speak of indefinite plural trips, you could use the partitive plural: Meillä on ostosmatkoja huomenna.

What is huomenna, what part of speech is it, and why is it spelled with -nn-?

• huomenna is an adverb of time, meaning tomorrow.
• It’s formed by taking the noun stem huomen- (tomorrow) and adding the adverbial suffix -na, which often causes gemination of a final n:
  huomen + na → huomenna

Can the word order be changed in this sentence?

Yes. Finnish word order is relatively free. The neutral order is Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna, but you can shift elements for emphasis:

• Huomenna meillä on ostosmatka. (Emphasize tomorrow)
• Ostosmatka on meillä huomenna. (Slightly more formal or topicalizing shopping trip)

How do you make the sentence negative (“We don’t have a shopping trip tomorrow”)?

Use the negative auxiliary ei with the noun in partitive case:
Meillä ei ole ostosmatkaa huomenna.
– ei is the negative of olla,
– ole is the basic form,
– ostosmatka takes partitive (ostosmatkaa) in negative singular.

How do you form a question (“Do we have a shopping trip tomorrow?”)?

Invert on and the adessive pronoun, or simply front on for yes/no questions:
Onko meillä huomenna ostosmatka?
You can also say
Onko meillä ostosmatka huomenna?

How do you pronounce huomenna and ostosmatka, and what is their stress pattern?

• huomenna [ˈhuo̯.mɛnːɑ]
  
  • Primary stress on the first syllable HUO
  • Double n is a long consonant in the second syllable
• ostosmatka [ˈos.tosˌmat.kɑ]
  
  • Primary stress on OS-tos
  • Secondary (weak) stress begins each odd-numbered syllable thereafter (here on mat)