Odotan välittäjää asuntoesittelyssä, koska hän on myöhässä.

I am waiting for the realtor at the apartment viewing because he/she is late.

Breakdown of Odotan välittäjää asuntoesittelyssä, koska hän on myöhässä.

• minä: I
• olla: to be
• hän: he/she
• koska: because
• odottaa: to wait for
• myöhäinen: late
• -ssä: at
• välittäjä: the realtor
• asuntoesittely: the apartment viewing

Questions & Answers about Odotan välittäjää asuntoesittelyssä, koska hän on myöhässä.

Why is it odotan välittäjää (partitive) and not odotan välittäjän / välittäjä?

The verb odottaa (to wait for) typically takes a partitive object in Finnish: odottaa jotakuta/jotakin → odotan välittäjää.
Conceptually, the waiting is an ongoing, uncompleted action, and Finnish often uses the partitive for that kind of object.
You’ll most often see:

• Odotan bussia. = I’m waiting for the bus.
• Odotan välittäjää. = I’m waiting for the agent.

(Using välittäjän would sound wrong here in normal standard Finnish.)

What does välittäjä mean here—agent, broker, realtor?

Välittäjä is a general word meaning an intermediary/agent/broker. In housing contexts, it commonly refers to a real estate agent (also kiinteistönvälittäjä is a more explicit term). So in an apartment showing context, välittäjä is naturally understood as the real estate agent.

What case is asuntoesittelyssä, and why that case?

Asuntoesittelyssä is in the inessive case (-ssa/-ssä), which often means in/at a place or event.
Here it means you are at the apartment showing (physically there, or at that event), not going there.

Compare:

• asuntoesittelyssä = at/in the showing (location: where you are)
• asuntoesittelyyn (illative) = to the showing (direction: where you’re going)

Is asuntoesittely a compound word? How is it built?

Yes. Asuntoesittely is a compound:

• asunto = apartment / dwelling
• esittely = presentation / showing
  Together: apartment showing (the event where the apartment is shown to potential buyers/renters).

Why is there a comma before koska?

In Finnish, a subordinate clause introduced by koska (because) is typically separated by a comma from the main clause:

• Odotan ..., koska hän on myöhässä.
  This is standard punctuation.

Could I replace koska with something else like sillä?

Often, yes, but there’s a nuance:

• koska introduces a subordinate clause (comma + subordinate word order is normal): ..., koska ...
• sillä is more like for, introducing an explanatory main clause (also usually after a comma): ..., sillä ...

In many everyday sentences, both work, but koska is the most straightforward “because.”

Why does it say hän on myöhässä and not a verb like “he is late” → “he laten(s)”?

Finnish commonly expresses “to be late” with the idiom olla myöhässä:

• hän on myöhässä = he/she is late

There is also a verb myöhästyä = to be late / to miss / to get delayed, but it’s used a bit differently:

• Hän myöhästyi. = He/She was late (arrived late / ended up late).
• Hän on myöhässä. = He/She is (currently) late.

What case is myöhässä, and why is “late” in a case at all?

Myöhässä is also inessive (-ssa/-ssä). In Finnish, some states are expressed as being “in” something:

• olla myöhässä literally behaves like “to be in lateness,” idiomatically “to be late.”

This is just a fixed, very common expression.

How is odotan formed?

Odotan is the 1st person singular present form of odottaa:

• minä odotan = I wait / I’m waiting
  Finnish often drops the pronoun minä, because the verb ending already shows the person.

Does Finnish have a difference between “I wait” and “I’m waiting” here?

Not in the verb form. Odotan (present tense) can mean both I wait and I’m waiting, and context decides. In this sentence, it’s naturally understood as I’m waiting.

Can the word order change? For example, Asuntoesittelyssä odotan välittäjää...?

Yes. Finnish word order is flexible, and changing it usually changes emphasis:

• Odotan välittäjää asuntoesittelyssä... = neutral
• Asuntoesittelyssä odotan välittäjää... = emphasizes where you’re waiting (at the showing)
• Välittäjää odotan asuntoesittelyssä... = emphasizes who you’re waiting for

The basic meaning remains the same.

Why is there no word for “the” in välittäjää or asuntoesittelyssä?

Finnish doesn’t have articles (a/an/the). Definiteness is usually inferred from context:

• välittäjää can mean an/the agent depending on what’s already known.
• asuntoesittelyssä can mean at an/the showing similarly.