Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna.

we

Breakdown of Meillä on ostosmatka huomenna.

• 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?