Breakdown of Moni myöhästyi tunnilta juuri liikenneruuhkan takia.
Questions & Answers about Moni myöhästyi tunnilta juuri liikenneruuhkan takia.
Moni is grammatically singular, even though it refers to more than one person. Therefore the verb is in 3rd person singular:
- Moni myöhästyi. = Many (people) were late. (literal: Many was late.)
- Monet myöhästyivät. = Many (people) were late. (here monet is plural, so the verb is plural)
Meaning is plural in both, but moni forces a singular verb, monet a plural verb.
They are different forms of the same word:
- moni = nominative singular, used as:
- a pronoun: Moni myöhästyi. – Many were late.
- or a determiner: Moni opiskelija myöhästyi. – Many a student was late.
- monet = nominative plural:
- Monet myöhästyivät. – Many (people) were late.
- Monet opiskelijat myöhästyivät. – Many students were late.
- monia = partitive plural:
- Monia myöhästyi tunnilta. – Many (people) were late for the class. (existential-style sentence)
- Monia opiskelijoita myöhästyi. – Many students were late.
All three can translate as many, but they differ in case and whether the grammar around them is singular or plural.
Yes, that sentence is correct and very natural.
- Moni myöhästyi… feels a bit more like many a person or quite a few (people), slightly more compact or written style.
- Monet myöhästyivät… is more straightforwardly plural: many people were late…
The factual meaning is basically the same; the difference is nuance and style.
Yes. Moni stands alone and refers to people implied by the context (students, pupils, etc.).
If you want to make it explicit, you can say:
- Moni opiskelija myöhästyi tunnilta… – Many students were late for the class…
- Moni oppilas myöhästyi tunnilta… – Many pupils were late for the lesson…
Leaving the noun out is very common when it’s obvious from context.
Tunnilta is the ablative case (ending -lta / -ltä), which often means “from (a surface / event / place)”.
- Base form: tunti – hour; lesson, class
- Ablative: tunnilta – literally from the lesson / from class
In this verb phrase myöhästyä tunnilta, the ablative marks the event you are late for.
The verb myöhästyä (“to be late, to miss”) simply takes a mistä-case complement (something like “from what?”), and here that is realised as tunnilta by convention.
- myöhästyä tunnilta – to be late for the class
- myöhästyä kokouksesta – to be late for the meeting (here elative -sta)
- myöhästyä junasta – to miss the train
So the exact case ending can vary with the noun and established usage. With tunti in this meaning, tunnilta is the standard expression; tunnista or tunnille would be wrong here.
Tunti has two common meanings:
- hour (60 minutes):
- Yksi tunti – one hour
- lesson, class, period (especially in a school context):
- matematiikan tunti – maths lesson
- Olin tunnilla. – I was in class.
In Moni myöhästyi tunnilta, the school context makes tunti naturally mean lesson/class rather than a generic hour.
The dictionary form is myöhästyä – to be late, to become late, to miss.
Myöhästyi is:
- 3rd person singular
- past tense (preterite)
So myöhästyi = was late / became late / got delayed.
Yes, literally it is “to be late from something”:
- myöhästyä tunnilta – be late for the class (lit. “be late from the class”)
- myöhästyä kokouksesta – be late for the meeting
- myöhästyä junasta – miss the train
Finnish conceptualises it as not making it to an event or departure “in time”, so you end up being “late from” that event. As a learner, it’s best to memorise myöhästyä + mistä-case as “be late for / miss” in English.
Juuri here adds emphasis and can mean “exactly, precisely, specifically, just”.
- Moni myöhästyi tunnilta liikenneruuhkan takia. – Many were late because of the traffic jam.
- Moni myöhästyi tunnilta juuri liikenneruuhkan takia. – Many were late *specifically because of the traffic jam.*
You can leave juuri out; the sentence is still correct. Including it highlights that the traffic jam was the exact/real reason, possibly in contrast to other potential reasons.
Liikenneruuhkan takia is a postpositional phrase meaning “because of the traffic jam”.
- liikenneruuhka – traffic jam
- liikenneruuhkan – genitive singular of liikenneruuhka
- takia – a postposition meaning because of, due to
Postpositions like takia normally require the noun (or phrase) before them to be in the genitive:
- sateen takia – because of the rain
- onnettomuuden takia – because of the accident
- liikenneruuhkan takia – because of the traffic jam
Yes, some common alternatives are:
- liikenneruuhkan vuoksi – because of / due to the traffic jam (a bit more formal)
- liikenneruuhkan takia – neutral and very common
- liikenne ruuhkan takia would be incorrect; liikenneruuhka is one compound word.
You could also restructure more freely, e.g. Koska oli liikenneruuhka, moni myöhästyi tunnilta. – Because there was a traffic jam, many were late for class.
Yes, liikenneruuhka is a compound:
- liikenne – traffic
- ruuhka – congestion, jam, rush
So liikenneruuhka = traffic jam / traffic congestion.
In many contexts you can shorten it to ruuhka if it’s clear you mean traffic:
- Moni myöhästyi tunnilta ruuhkan takia. – Many were late for class because of the rush/jam.
But liikenneruuhka is more explicit, especially in writing or when the context isn’t totally clear.
Yes, but it would mean several different traffic jams:
- liikenneruuhkien takia – because of (several) traffic jams
In everyday speech, when you just mean “the traffic was bad / there was a jam”, the singular liikenneruuhkan takia is standard. The plural is used when you’re explicitly talking about multiple separate jams (for example in several places or on different days).
The sentence is stylistically neutral. It would fit in:
- conversation (especially somewhat careful speech),
- written messages (emails, reports),
- news or school-related texts.
If you wanted something more colloquial, you might hear small changes like dropping juuri or using Monet instead of Moni, but as written it’s very standard Finnish.