Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.

My schedule gets messed up if the bus is late.

Breakdown of Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.

• olla: to be
• minun: my
• aikataulu: the schedule
• jos: if
• bussi: the bus
• myöhäinen: late
• mennä sekaisin: to get mixed up

Questions & Answers about Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.

Why does the sentence have both Minun and the ending -ni in aikatauluni? Isn’t that saying “my” twice?

In Finnish, possession is usually shown with a possessive suffix:

• aikataulu = schedule
• aikatauluni = my schedule

The pronoun minun (genitive of minä) is optional. So all of these are grammatically correct:

• Aikatauluni menee sekaisin.
• Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin.

Using both minun + -ni is very common, especially in spoken Finnish and in everyday writing. It can:

• add clarity (whose schedule?)
• add slight emphasis on "my"

So it’s not “wrong” or “double my” in a bad way; it’s just how Finnish often works in practice.

What case is aikatauluni, and how is it built?

Aikatauluni is:

• base noun: aikataulu (schedule, timetable)
• case: nominative singular (it’s the subject of the sentence)
• possessive suffix: -ni (my)

So:

• aikataulu = a schedule
• aikataulu + ni → aikatauluni = my schedule

If you removed the possessor, it would just be:

• Aikataulu menee sekaisin. – The schedule gets messed up.

What does menee sekaisin literally mean?

Literally:

• mennä = to go
• sekaisin = into a mixed / confused state

So menee sekaisin literally is “goes into a mixed-up state”, and idiomatically means:

• to get messed up / to get confused / to be thrown off

In this sentence:

• Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin ≈ “My schedule gets messed up / is thrown off.”

Is sekaisin an adjective or an adverb here?

Sekaisin functions as an adverb-like predicative describing the resulting state:

• mennä sekaisin – to go into a confused / mixed-up state
• olla sekaisin – to be mixed up / confused
• pää sekaisin – head (is) scrambled/confused

Historically it’s related to a case form, but for a learner it’s easiest to treat sekaisin as a fixed word that goes with verbs like mennä and olla to mean “mixed up, confused, in disorder”.

Why is the verb in the present tense (menee, on myöhässä) when in English we’d probably say “will get messed up” if the bus is late?

Finnish often uses the present tense where English uses a future tense.

• Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.
  = literally: My schedule goes messed up if the bus is late.
  = natural English: My schedule will get messed up if the bus is late.

The future meaning is understood from context and from the conditional clause with jos (“if”). Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense; present tense covers both present and future in these kinds of sentences.

What exactly does jos mean, and how is it different from kun?

Jos = if (conditional, uncertain, hypothetical).

• … jos bussi on myöhässä.
  = … if the bus is late. (It might or might not be late.)

Kun usually means when / whenever / since and often suggests something more factual or expected:

• … kun bussi on myöhässä.
  = … when the bus is late (as it usually is). or since the bus is late…

In this sentence we are talking about a possibility or condition, so jos is the natural choice.

Why is there a comma before jos? In English we wouldn’t usually put one there if the “if”-clause comes second.

This is a punctuation rule of Finnish, not English.

In Finnish, you normally put a comma between a main clause and a subordinate clause, regardless of which comes first:

• Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.
• Jos bussi on myöhässä, minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin.

So the comma is required here by Finnish rules, even though English usually omits it when the if-clause comes second.

Why do we say bussi on myöhässä instead of something like bussi myöhästyy?

These express slightly different ideas:

• bussi on myöhässä

  • literally: the bus is in lateness
  • describes a state: the bus is late / running late / delayed

• bussi myöhästyy

  • myöhästyä = to be late, to miss (e.g., miss a train)
  • describes an event: the bus ends up arriving late or missing a scheduled time

In your sentence, we’re talking about the bus being late as a condition that causes problems, so the state expression on myöhässä is the most natural.

What is myöhässä grammatically, and what does it literally mean?

Myöhässä is originally the inessive case (the “in”-case) of an old noun myöhä (related to “lateness”).

Literally:

• myöhässä ≈ “in lateness”

In modern Finnish, you mostly encounter myöhässä as a fixed adverbial-like form meaning:

• late, running late, delayed

Typical patterns:

• Bussi on myöhässä. – The bus is late.
• Olen myöhässä. – I’m late.
• Kokous alkoi myöhässä. – The meeting started late.

Can I change the word order, like: Jos bussi on myöhässä, minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin?

Yes. Both orders are perfectly natural:

• Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.
• Jos bussi on myöhässä, minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin.

The meaning is the same. Starting with jos puts a bit more focus on the condition (“if the bus is late…”), but grammatically both are fine and very common.

Is there a more colloquial way to say Minun aikatauluni menee sekaisin?

In spoken Finnish, you’ll often hear:

• Mun aikataulu menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.

Changes:

• minun → mun (spoken form)
• often the possessive suffix -ni is dropped in speech:
  • aikataulu instead of aikatauluni

So:

• Mun aikataulu menee sekaisin, jos bussi on myöhässä.
  is very natural in casual spoken Finnish, while the original sentence is closer to standard/written style.