Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.

Bedtime is an important moment for me.

Breakdown of Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.

• olla: to be
• hetki: the moment
• tärkeä: important
• minulle: me
• nukkumaanmeno: the going to sleep

Questions & Answers about Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.

Why is nukkumaanmeno written as one word? Could it also be nukkumaan meno?

Yes, you will see both nukkumaanmeno (one word) and nukkumaan meno (two words).

• Finnish very often turns a whole phrase into one compound noun when it refers to a fairly fixed “everyday activity” or concept (like ruoanlaitto “cooking (food)”, hampaidenpesu “tooth-brushing”).
• Nukkumaanmeno is exactly this kind of everyday routine: “the act of going to sleep / bedtime”, so it is natural as one word.

Nuance:

• nukkumaanmeno (one word) feels like a more fixed concept (“bedtime, the going-to-sleep routine”).
• nukkumaan meno (two words) is also grammatically fine; it can feel a bit more like literally “the going to sleep”, with meno more clearly a separate noun.

In normal written Finnish, the one-word form nukkumaanmeno is very common and perfectly standard.

How is the word nukkumaanmeno built up? What do its parts mean?

nukkumaanmeno is made from two pieces:

1. nukkumaan

   • base verb: nukkua = “to sleep”
   • nukku- (verb stem) + -ma (a verbal suffix) + -an (illative ending)
   • nukkumaan is the “third infinitive illative” of nukkua. It’s used after movement verbs to mean “to go (in order) to sleep”, like in mennä nukkumaan “to go to sleep”.

2. meno

   • noun from the verb mennä = “to go”
   • meno literally = “the going”

Put together, nukkumaan + meno → nukkumaanmeno = “the going (to) sleep”, i.e. the act or moment of going to sleep. In practice it’s often close to English “bedtime” or “going-to-sleep time”.

Why is it nukkumaan- and not nukkuma- in nukkumaanmeno?

This comes from Finnish infinitive forms:

• nukkuma- is the base of the third infinitive.
• When it takes the illative ending -an / -ään, it becomes nukkumaan.

The pattern is:

• inessive: nukkuma
  • ssa → nukkumassa (“in the act of sleeping”)
• elative: nukkuma
  • sta → nukkumasta (“from sleeping”)
• illative: nukkuma
  • an → nukkumaan (“into/for sleeping” → “to sleep” after a motion verb)

With verbs of movement like mennä (“to go”), Finnish almost always uses this illative form:

• mennä nukkumaan = to go to sleep
• mennä syömään = to go eat
• mennä uimaan = to go swimming

So when we turn mennä nukkumaan into a compound noun, we keep the same nukkumaan form: nukkumaanmeno.
Forms like ✗ nukkumameno would sound wrong.

What exactly is the nuance of nukkumaanmeno? Is it more like “sleeping” or “bedtime”?

Nukkumaanmeno focuses on the transition into sleep, not on sleep itself.

Compare:

• nukkuminen = “sleeping” (the state or activity in general)
• nukkumaanmeno = “the act/moment of going to sleep”, “bedtime”

So in your sentence:

• Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.
  “Going to sleep / Bedtime is an important moment for me.”

It suggests that the ritual or moment of going to bed (maybe the calm, the routine, the winding down) has special importance, not just sleep as a biological need.

Why is it minulle here? What does the ending -lle mean in this sentence?

Minulle is the allative case of minä (“I”).

• minä → minulle = “to me / for me”

In this pattern:

• X on minulle tärkeä = “X is important to me.”

The allative (-lle) is often used to mark a kind of “experiencer” or “beneficiary” with adjectives:

• Raha on minulle tärkeää. = “Money is important to me.”
• Liikunta on sinulle hyväksi. = “Exercise is good for you.”
• Tämä on meille vaikeaa. = “This is difficult for us.”

So minulle here shows who finds it important, in the sense of “for me personally / in my life”.

Could we say Nukkumaanmeno on minusta tärkeä hetki instead of minulle? What would change?

You can say minusta, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• minulle = “for me (personally, in my life)”
  → “Going to sleep is an important moment for me (it matters in my daily routine).”

• minusta = “in my opinion” / “as I see it”
  → Nukkumaanmeno on minusta tärkeä hetki.
  ≈ “In my opinion, going to sleep is an important moment.”

So:

• minulle highlights personal significance (importance to you as a person).
• minusta highlights your judgment/opinion about it (you are stating that you consider it important).

Both are grammatical; they just answer slightly different questions:
“Important for whom?” → minulle
“Important in whose opinion?” → minusta

Why are tärkeä and hetki both in the basic form (nominative)? Why not something like tärkeää hetkeä?

In this sentence, tärkeä hetki is a predicative (a complement of on “is”), describing what nukkumaanmeno is.

• Nukkumaanmeno (subject) – singular
• on (verb “is”)
• tärkeä hetki (predicative, describing the subject)

For a concrete, countable thing like hetki (“a moment”), Finnish usually uses the nominative singular in this kind of “X is Y” sentence:

• Tämä on hyvä kirja. = “This is a good book.”
• Se päivä oli tärkeä hetki. = “That day was an important moment.”
• Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.

You can see partitive predicatives like on tärkeää, but that’s used when:

• there’s no concrete noun after it, just an abstract idea:
  
  • Nukkuminen on minulle tärkeää. = “Sleeping is important to me.”
• or you’re focusing on the quality “being important” in a more abstract way.

Here, we are clearly talking about one identifiable hetki → nominative tärkeä hetki is natural.

What is the role of on in this sentence? Is it always needed?

On is the 3rd person singular of olla = “to be”.

So the core structure is:

• Nukkumaanmeno = subject
• on = “is”
• minulle tärkeä hetki = complement (“an important moment for me”)

Without on, the sentence would be ungrammatical; Finnish also needs a form of olla in basic “X is Y” sentences:

• Tämä on tärkeä hetki. = “This is an important moment.”
• Uni on tärkeää. = “Sleep is important.”

In everyday spoken language, on is often pronounced like “oon”, but in standard writing you must use on.

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Minulle nukkumaanmeno on tärkeä hetki or Nukkumaanmeno on tärkeä hetki minulle?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible, and all of these are grammatical:

1. Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.
   – Neutral; just stating the fact.

2. Minulle nukkumaanmeno on tärkeä hetki.
   – Emphasises minulle (“for me”):
   “For me, going to sleep is an important moment (maybe more than for others).”

3. Nukkumaanmeno on tärkeä hetki minulle.
   – Also ok; minulle gets a bit of end-focus:
   “Going to sleep is an important moment for me.”

The core meaning is the same, but putting minulle first or last can slightly change what feels emphasised. The version you were given is a very natural neutral order.

Could I express the same idea with nukkuminen instead of nukkumaanmeno? How would it change the meaning?

You can, but the nuance changes:

• Nukkuminen on minulle tärkeää.
  = “Sleeping is important to me.”
  → Focus: sleep in general (getting enough sleep, valuing sleep as a thing).

• Nukkumaanmeno on minulle tärkeä hetki.
  = “Going to sleep is an important moment for me.”
  → Focus: the moment/ritual of going to bed and falling asleep.

So:

• nukkuminen = the state/activity of sleeping
• nukkumaanmeno = the process / moment of transition into sleep

Your original sentence is more about the emotional or practical value of that specific moment, not just sleep as a general need.