Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän.

The football tournament lasts the whole day.

Breakdown of Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän.

• päivä: the day
• kestää: to last
• koko: whole
• jalkapalloturnaus: the football tournament

Questions & Answers about Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän.

Why is jalkapalloturnaus written as one long word instead of several separate words?

Finnish likes to build compound words where English would use several separate words.
jalkapalloturnaus = jalkapallo (football, soccer) + turnaus (tournament).
When two nouns belong tightly together as one concept (like football tournament, bus stop, school bag), Finnish usually combines them into a single word: jalkapalloturnaus, bussipysäkki, koululaukku.
So it’s normal and correct that this appears as one word in Finnish.

What exactly does kestää mean here, and what form is it in?

Here kestää means “to last” or “to take (time)”.
It is in the present tense, 3rd person singular to match the subject jalkapalloturnaus (the tournament).
Very roughly:

• minä kestän – I last / I endure (rare with this meaning)
• se kestää – it lasts / it takes
  In this sentence: Jalkapalloturnaus kestää… = The football tournament lasts…

Why is it koko päivän and not koko päivä?

Finnish normally shows duration of time with a case ending, not with a preposition like “for”.
Here päivän is the genitive/accusative form of päivä (day) and expresses “for the whole day” / “the whole day long”.
If you said koko päivä, it would feel more like a simple noun phrase “the whole day” (as a subject or object), not a duration.
So koko päivän is the natural way to say “(for) the whole day” after verbs like kestää.

What case is päivän, and what does that case do in this sentence?

päivän is in the genitive form (same form is also used as “total object” / accusative for singular nouns).
In this kind of sentence it signals how long something lasts – “for a day / for the whole day”.
Other examples follow the same pattern:

• se kestää tunnin – it lasts (for) an hour
• kestää viikon – (it) lasts a week
  So päivän here functions as a duration expression.

What does koko mean, and does it affect the case of päivä?

koko means “whole, entire”.
When you say koko + noun, the noun still takes whatever case the grammar requires.
Here, the verb kestää wants a duration expression in the genitive/accusative, so you get:

• päivä → päivän
• with koko: koko päivän – the whole day (as a duration)
  You could also have:
• koko viikon – the whole week
• koko vuoden – the whole year

Can I change the word order, like Koko päivän jalkapalloturnaus kestää?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, and moving elements changes the emphasis more than the basic meaning.
All of these are grammatically fine:

• Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän. (neutral, subject–verb–time)
• Koko päivän jalkapalloturnaus kestää. (emphasizes the duration first)
  In everyday speech, the original sentence is the most natural and neutral version; the others can sound more stylistic or emphasize a particular part.

Could I say this with on instead of kestää, like Jalkapalloturnaus on koko päivän?

You can say Jalkapalloturnaus on koko päivän, and people will understand you, but it sounds less natural for talking about duration.
olla (on) just says something exists / takes place during that time, while kestää specifically talks about how long it lasts.
For events, kestää is the usual verb for “lasts (for some time)”, so:

• Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän. is the most idiomatic way to say “The football tournament lasts the whole day.”

Is kestää only used with events, or can it also be used with people and things?

kestää has two main common meanings:

1. to last / to take (time) – used with events or actions
   
   • Koe kestää tunnin. – The exam lasts an hour.
2. to endure / to withstand / to tolerate – used with people or things
   
   • En kestä tätä melua. – I can’t stand this noise.
     In your sentence it’s clearly the “lasts” meaning, used with an event (jalkapalloturnaus).

How would I say “The football tournament lasted the whole day” in the past tense?

You just put kestää into the imperfect (simple past):

• Jalkapalloturnaus kesti koko päivän. – The football tournament lasted the whole day.
  So:
• present: kestää → Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän.
• past: kesti → Jalkapalloturnaus kesti koko päivän.

How do you pronounce Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän? Where is the stress?

In Finnish, stress is always on the first syllable of each word.
So roughly:

• JAL-ka-pal-lo-TUR-na-us KES-tää KO-ko PÄI-vän
  Every vowel is clearly pronounced; there are no silent letters.
  Double consonants like ll in pallo are held a bit longer than single ones, and ää in kestää / päivän is a long aa sound.

How would I say the same kind of sentence with a different sport, like hockey or basketball?

You mostly just change the compound word at the beginning:

• Jääkiekko­turnaus kestää koko päivän. – The ice hockey tournament lasts the whole day.
• Koripallo­turnaus kestää koko päivän. – The basketball tournament lasts the whole day.
  Pattern:
• [sport] + turnaus kestää koko päivän.
  The verb kestää and koko päivän stay the same.

Is there any difference between koko päivän and koko päivän ajan?

Both are correct and very close in meaning:

• koko päivän – the whole day (as a duration)
• koko päivän ajan – for the whole duration of the day / for the entire day
  ajan literally means “for the time (of)”.
  koko päivän is slightly shorter and more neutral, and is perfectly enough in this sentence:
• Jalkapalloturnaus kestää koko päivän.
  Adding ajan can make it a bit more explicit or formal, but it’s not necessary.