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Questions & Answers about Minä myöhästyn usein bussista.
Why is Minä used at the beginning of the sentence even though Finnish often drops pronouns?
In Finnish the verb ending (here -n in myöhästyn) already tells you it’s first-person singular, so you can omit Minä. Including Minä adds clarity or emphasis (“I personally…”). Without it you’d simply say Myöhästyn usein bussista.
What does the ending -n on myöhästyn indicate?
The -n is the personal ending for first-person singular in the present tense. The verb stem is myöhästy-, so adding -n gives “I am/become late” or “I miss.”
Why is bussista in this form rather than bussi or bussia?
Bussista is the elative case (marked by -sta/-stä) and means “out of/from the bus.” The verb myöhästyä requires its object in elative to express “to be late for” or “miss” something. You wouldn’t use the basic form bussi or the partitive bussia here.
Where should the adverb usein (“often”) go in the sentence?
Finnish word order is flexible. You can say:
• Usein myöhästyn bussista (Adverb first)
• Minä usein myöhästyn bussista (Between subject and verb)
• Minä myöhästyn usein bussista (After verb)
All are correct; the slight shifts affect emphasis.
Does myöhästyä simply mean “to be late”?
Literally it means “to become late,” but in practice it often conveys “to miss” (a bus, train, appointment). If you want to say “I’m late (to a meeting),” you can also use olla myöhässä or saapua myöhässä.
How would you say “I missed the train” instead of the bus?
Use the same structure with elative: Myöhästyin junasta (“I missed the train”). Note the past tense ending -in for first-person.
How do you form the past tense of myöhästyä for “I missed…”?
Switch the present -n ending to the past -in. The past is myöhästyin. So: Minä myöhästyin bussista (“I missed the bus”).
Could you say Minä myöhästyn bussilla to mean “I’m late by bus”?
No. Bussilla (adessive case) indicates “by bus” as the means of transport. You’d use bussilla with verbs like tulla (“to come”): Tulen bussilla (“I come by bus”). With myöhästyä, you need the elative -sta/-stä to mark what you miss.