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Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous.

Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous.
We have a small meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Breakdown of Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous.

pieni
small
-llä
on
me
we
iltapäivä
the afternoon
kokous
the meeting
torstaina
on Thursday
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Questions & Answers about Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous.

Why is it Meillä on and not Me olemme?

Finnish expresses possession with the adessive case of the possessor + the verb olla in 3rd person singular.

  • me
    • adessive -lla/-llä → meillä (“on us”)
  • on = “is/there is” So Meillä on literally means “On us there is,” i.e., “we have.” Me olemme means “we are,” not “we have.”
Does Meillä on mean “we have” or “at our place there is”?
Both readings are possible. Most often, with events like meetings, it means “we have.” But meillä can also mean “at our place/at our office.” Context decides. If you want to make the place meaning explicit, add a location: Meillä kotona on…, Meidän toimistolla on…
Why is the verb on singular even though me is plural?

In this possession pattern, the possessor (meillä) is not the grammatical subject. The “thing had” (here kokous) is the notional subject, and the verb is in 3rd person singular: on. It stays on even with plurals or numerals:

  • Meillä on kaksi kokousta. (not ovat)
  • Meillä on kokouksia.
Why does torstaina end with -na?

Days of the week take the essive case (-na/-nä) to mean “on [day]”:

  • maanantaina, tiistaina, keskiviikkona, torstaina, perjantaina, lauantaina, sunnuntaina
Why does iltapäivällä end with -llä?

Times of day usually use the adessive case (-lla/-llä) to mean “in/on [time of day]”:

  • aamulla, aamupäivällä, päivällä, iltapäivällä, illalla, yöllä
Can I say torstai-iltapäivänä instead of torstaina iltapäivällä?

Yes. Two natural options:

  • torstaina iltapäivällä (day in essive + time of day in adessive)
  • torstai-iltapäivänä (a hyphenated compound with essive on the last part) Both mean “on Thursday afternoon.”
Where can the time expression go in the sentence?

Finnish word order is flexible. All are natural:

  • Torstaina iltapäivällä meillä on pieni kokous. (time first)
  • Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous. (time in the middle)
  • Meillä on pieni kokous torstaina iltapäivällä. (time last) The choice adjusts emphasis, not meaning.
What does pieni convey here—“small” or “short”?
pieni = “small” (few participants/limited in size). If you mean short in duration, use lyhyt (e.g., lyhyt kokous). A common informal word for a meeting is palaveri; e.g., pikapalaveri = “quick meeting.”
Why is there no article before pieni kokous?
Finnish has no articles. pieni kokous can correspond to English “a small meeting” (indefinite) by default. Definiteness is inferred from context or shown with demonstratives like se, tämä if needed.
Why is kokous in the base form (nominative) and not partitive?

In existential/possessive sentences, the nominative is used when the thing is a whole, countable event and the sentence is affirmative:

  • Meillä on pieni kokous. With negation (or unbounded/uncountable reference), use partitive:
  • Meillä ei ole kokousta.
How do I say the negative: “We don’t have a meeting on Thursday afternoon”?

Meillä ei ole torstaina iltapäivällä kokousta. If you keep the adjective, it also goes to partitive: pientä kokousta (though often you’d just drop the adjective).

How do I talk about recurring Thursday afternoons?

Two natural choices:

  • torstaisin iltapäivällä (“on Thursdays in the afternoon”)
  • torstai-iltapäivisin (“on Thursday afternoons”) Example: Meillä on torstaisin iltapäivällä pieni kokous.
How do I say “next Thursday afternoon” versus “the following Thursday afternoon”?
  • Upcoming next: ensi torstaina iltapäivällä
  • The Thursday after a previously mentioned one: seuraavana torstaina iltapäivällä Example: Meillä on ensi torstaina iltapäivällä pieni kokous.
How do I add a specific clock time?

You can use either a nominative time with kello or the ablative form:

  • Meillä on torstaina kello kaksi pieni kokous.
  • Meillä on torstaina kahdelta pieni kokous. You can also write numbers: klo 14. Including both “iltapäivällä” and an exact time is possible but a bit redundant.
How would I say “We have two small meetings on Thursday afternoon”?

Meillä on torstaina iltapäivällä kaksi pientä kokousta. After numerals, the noun (and any adjective) is in the partitive singular: kaksi pientä kokousta.

Any quick pronunciation tips for the key words?
  • Stress the first syllable of each word.
  • ä is a front vowel (like the a in “cat”).
  • Double consonants are long: Meillä, iltapäivällä have a long ll.
  • Tap the Finnish r in torstaina.
  • Diphthongs: ei in Meillä, ai in torstaina, ou in kokous.