Ottelu kestää pitkään.

The match lasts for a long time.

Breakdown of Ottelu kestää pitkään.

• kestää: to last
• pitkään: for a long time
• ottelu: the match

Questions & Answers about Ottelu kestää pitkään.

What does each word in Ottelu kestää pitkään correspond to in English?

Word by word:

• ottelu = match, game, contest (a noun, nominative singular)
• kestää = lasts / takes (time) (a verb, 3rd person singular present)
• pitkään = for a long time (an adverb)

So the whole sentence is: “(The) match lasts for a long time.” or more naturally “The match lasts a long time.”

Why is there no word for “the” in Ottelu kestää pitkään?

Finnish has no articles like a/an or the. The bare noun ottelu can mean:

• a match
• the match
• matches (in some contexts, though then the verb usually shows plural)

Context tells you whether ottelu should be understood as a match or the match. Here, Ottelu kestää pitkään is naturally translated with the in English, but the Finnish form itself is neutral.

What grammatical form is ottelu in here?

Ottelu is in the nominative singular:

• Dictionary form: ottelu (match)
• Nominative singular (subject form): ottelu
• Plural nominative: ottelut

Because ottelu is the subject of the sentence, it appears in the basic nominative form, with no extra ending.

What form of the verb is kestää, and what is its basic meaning?

Kestää is:

• verb
• present tense
• 3rd person singular: he/she/it lasts / the match lasts

The dictionary form is also kestää (the 1st infinitive), so the form you see in the sentence is both:

• the infinitive that you’d look up
• and the 3rd person singular present form

A partial conjugation:

• minä kestän – I last / it takes (for me)
• sinä kestät – you last
• hän kestää – he/she/it lasts
• me kestämme – we last
• te kestätte – you (pl.) last
• he kestävät – they last

The basic meanings of kestää include:

• to last, to take (time) – Ottelu kestää kaksi tuntia = The match lasts two hours.
• to endure, to withstand, to tolerate – En kestä tätä melua = I can’t stand this noise.

Why do we say kestää and not something like on pitkä (“is long”)?

In Finnish, kestää is the normal verb used for how long something takes in time:

• Ottelu kestää pitkään. = The match lasts a long time.
• Matka kestää tunnin. = The trip takes an hour.

If you said Ottelu on pitkä, it would literally be “The match is long”, and it sounds more like a descriptive comment about the match (its character) than a neutral statement about duration. It’s understandable, but kestää is the idiomatic choice for duration.

What is pitkään, and why is it not just pitkä?

Pitkä is an adjective meaning long:

• pitkä mies – a long/tall man
• pitkä elokuva – a long film

In Ottelu kestää pitkään, we need an adverb: “lasts long / for a long time.”
Finnish often makes adverbs from adjectives by changing the form. Here:

• pitkä → pitkään

Pitkään functions as an adverb and is usually translated for a long time or simply long (in the sense of duration). So:

• Ottelu kestää pitkään. – The match lasts a long time.
• Ei kestä pitkään. – It won’t take long / It doesn’t last long.

Grammatically, pitkään is historically related to the illative case of pitkä, but in practice you can just treat pitkään as a fixed adverbial form meaning “for a long time.”

Are there other ways to say “for a long time” besides pitkään?

Yes, common alternatives include:

• kauan – long (time), for a long time
  
  • Ottelu kestää kauan. – The match lasts (for) a long time.
• kauan aikaa – literally “a long time (period)”
  • Ottelu kestää kauan aikaa.

Pitkään and kauan are often interchangeable when talking about time, though kauan is a very general “long time,” while pitkään is more literally connected to pitkä (“long”). In many everyday sentences about duration, you can choose either:

• Ottelu kestää pitkään.
• Ottelu kestää kauan.

Both are natural.

Can I use this present tense kestää to talk about the future, like “The match will last a long time”?

Yes. Finnish usually uses the present tense where English uses the future:

• Ottelu kestää pitkään.
  • can be “The match lasts a long time.” (general fact)
  • or “The match will last a long time.” (future, e.g. talking about tonight’s match)

Context and time expressions (like huomenna, ensi viikolla) show whether you mean present or future:

• Ottelu huomenna kestää pitkään. – Tomorrow’s match will last a long time.

How would this sentence change in the plural, or in other tenses?

A few common variants:

Plural (matches):

• Ottelut kestävät pitkään.
  • ottelut = matches (plural subject)
  • kestävät = they last (3rd person plural)

Past tense:

• Ottelu kesti pitkään. – The match lasted a long time.
• Ottelut kestivät pitkään. – The matches lasted a long time.

Future meaning with a time expression (still using present):

• Ottelu alkaa myöhään ja kestää pitkään. – The match starts late and (will) last a long time.

Can I drop ottelu and just say Kestää pitkään?

Yes, you can, if the subject is clear from context:

• Kestää pitkään. – “(It) takes a long time.”

Finnish often leaves out the subject when it’s obvious from the situation or previous sentences. For example, while waiting:

• (Puhutaan ottelusta.)
  Kestää pitkään. – It’s taking a long time.

Here, everyone already knows you are talking about the match (or some other event), so you don’t need to repeat ottelu.

Is it possible to change the word order, like Pitkään ottelu kestää?

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible. Different orders change the emphasis more than the basic meaning:

• Ottelu kestää pitkään.

  • Neutral: The match lasts a long time.

• Pitkään ottelu kestää.

  • Emphasis on pitkään (“for a long time”): more like
    • “For a long time the match lasts,”
    • or in natural English: “The match really does last a long time.”

• Ottelu pitkään kestää.

  • Possible but more marked/stylistic; standard neutral order is subject–verb–adverb:
    • Ottelu kestää pitkään.

For learners, it’s safest to stick to Ottelu kestää pitkään as the normal, neutral order.