Viime yönä ulkona oli hiljaista.

Last night it was quiet outside.

Breakdown of Viime yönä ulkona oli hiljaista.

• olla: to be
• ulkona: outside
• hiljainen: quiet
• viime yönä: last night

Questions & Answers about Viime yönä ulkona oli hiljaista.

Why is the word yö written as yönä here?

Yönä is the essive case form of yö (“night”). In Finnish, many time expressions use the essive singular (-na/-nä) to mean “during X.” So viime yönä literally is “during last night,” i.e. “last night.”

What’s the difference between yönä and yöllä?

Yönä (essive) is used for specific nights – tänä yönä (“tonight”), viime yönä (“last night”), sinä yönä (“on that night”).
Yöllä (adessive) means “at night” in a general or habitual sense: e.g. Yöllä uni on syvää (“Sleep is deep at night”).

What does ulkona mean, and why not use ulos or ulkopuolella?

Ulkona means “outside” as a static location (i.e. “outdoors”).

• Ulos = movement “out” or “to the outside.”
• Ulkopuolella = “outside of” something (i.e. external to a boundary).
  Here you want “it was quiet outdoors,” so ulkona is the correct locative form.

Why is hiljainen in the sentence hiljaista instead of hiljainen?

After olla in an existential or descriptive statement, the predicate adjective takes the partitive singular.

• hiljainen → hiljaista
  This gives the nuance of “there was quiet” as an indefinite state.

Why is there no explicit subject like “it” or “there”?

Finnish uses an impersonal olla to describe general conditions, so no subject pronoun is needed. English inserts “it” or “there,” but Finnish simply states “was quiet.”

What is the role of the verb olla here?

Olla means “to be.” In past tense it becomes oli (“was”). Here oli links the time/place phrases (Viime yönä ulkona) to the partitive adjective (hiljaista), producing “it/there was quiet.”

Can I change the word order in this sentence?

Yes. Finnish word order is relatively free and used for emphasis. Examples:

• Ulkona viime yönä oli hiljaista.
• Hiljaista oli viime yönä ulkona.
• Olipa viime yönä ulkona hiljaista.
  All convey the same basic meaning; what comes first simply gets highlighted.