Breakdown of Kysyn pomolta asiasta kokouksen yhteydessä.
Questions & Answers about Kysyn pomolta asiasta kokouksen yhteydessä.
Finnish present tense often covers both:
- kysyn = I ask / I’m asking / I will ask (depending on context). In a sentence like Kysyn pomolta asiasta kokouksen yhteydessä, it very naturally means I’ll ask my boss about it in connection with the meeting, even though it’s grammatically present tense.
Because the verb kysyä typically uses the pattern:
- kysyä joltain = to ask someone (literally ask from someone)
So pomo + -lta/-ltä (ablative case) gives:
- pomolta = from the boss → idiomatically my boss as the person being asked.
Using pomoa (partitive) would change the structure and wouldn’t be the normal way to say ask the boss.
This is another standard pattern with kysyä:
- kysyä jostakin = to ask about something
So:
- asia = matter/thing/issue
- asiasta (elative case -sta/-stä) = about the matter
It marks the topic you’re asking about, not the “question” you’re asking.
They mean different things because they follow two different structures:
1) kysyä jostakin → ask about a topic
- Kysyn asiasta. = I’ll ask about the matter.
2) kysyä jotakin → ask something (often a specific question / piece of info)
- Kysyn asian. = I’ll ask the thing / I’ll ask the question (and get it done).
This can sound like you’re referring to a specific “matter/question” as a unit.
In many everyday situations, if you mean about it, asiasta is the safer, more natural choice.
It’s a genitive + postposition structure:
- kokous = meeting
- kokouksen = genitive (of the meeting)
- yhteydessä = “in connection with / in conjunction with / in the context of”
So kokouksen yhteydessä means something like:
- in connection with the meeting
- when it comes up around the meeting
- as part of the meeting context (often: during the meeting, but with an “associated with” nuance)
Yes, but the meaning shifts:
- kokouksessa = in/at the meeting (more direct: physically there, during it)
- kokouksen yhteydessä = in connection with the meeting (could be during it, or around it—e.g., before/after—depending on context)
If you specifically mean “during the meeting,” kokouksessa or kokouksen aikana (during the meeting) is more straightforward.
Many Finnish postpositions require a specific case for the noun that comes before them. yhteydessä is commonly used with the genitive:
- kokouksen yhteydessä
- asian yhteydessä (in connection with the matter)
So the genitive here is mainly “required by the postposition,” not because it’s showing possession in the English sense.
You can move parts around, and it changes emphasis more than meaning. For example:
- Kysyn pomolta asiasta kokouksen yhteydessä. (neutral)
- Kokouksen yhteydessä kysyn pomolta asiasta. (emphasizes at that time/in that context)
- Asiasta kysyn pomolta kokouksen yhteydessä. (emphasizes about that matter)
Finnish word order is flexible, but the “default” neutral order often places time/context expressions toward the end.
Finnish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:
- kysyn = “I ask”
You can add minä if you want emphasis or contrast:
- Minä kysyn pomolta asiasta... = I (not someone else) will ask the boss...
pomo is common and understandable, but it can feel a bit informal (like boss in English). More neutral/professional options include:
- esimies (supervisor) → esimieheltä
- esihenkilö (gender-neutral supervisor) → esihenkilöltä
So you could say:
- Kysyn esihenkilöltä asiasta kokouksen yhteydessä.