Tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä, joten menin kotiin.

The meeting was cancelled at the last moment, so I went home.

Breakdown of Tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä, joten menin kotiin.

• mennä: to go
• joten: so
• -iin: to
• viime: last
• -llä: at
• koti: home
• peruuntua: to be cancelled
• hetki: moment
• tapaaminen: meeting

Questions & Answers about Tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä, joten menin kotiin.

Why is peruuntui used here—what tense and person is it?

peruuntui is the past tense (imperfect), 3rd person singular form of peruuntua (to be cancelled / to fall through).

• peruuntua → imperfect: peruuntui (it got cancelled / it was cancelled)
• The subject is tapaaminen (the meeting), so Finnish uses 3rd person singular: tapaaminen peruuntui.

Is peruuntua passive? It looks a bit like “was cancelled.”

It’s not the Finnish passive. peruuntua is an intransitive verb that means something like to get cancelled (the cancellation “happens” to it).

• Passive in Finnish has a different form (e.g., peruutettiin = it was cancelled / they cancelled it, agent unspecified).
• Here the structure is simply: The meeting got cancelled.

What’s the difference between peruuntua and peruuttaa?

They’re closely related but used differently:

• peruuttaa = to cancel something (transitive; you cancel it)
  
  • Peruutin tapaamisen. = I cancelled the meeting.
• peruuntua = to be cancelled / fall through (intransitive; it gets cancelled)
  
  • Tapaaminen peruuntui. = The meeting was cancelled.

Why is there a comma before joten?

Because there are two independent clauses: 1) Tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä
2) menin kotiin They’re linked by joten (so / therefore), and Finnish normally separates such clauses with a comma: …, joten ….

What does joten mean exactly, and could I use something else?

joten means so / therefore, introducing a result/consequence. Common alternatives (with slightly different feel):

• niin = often more spoken: …, niin menin kotiin.
• sen takia / siksi = because of that / therefore: …, joten/siksi menin kotiin. joten is a very neutral, standard option.

Why is it viime hetkellä and not some other case—what does -llä do?

hetkellä is adessive case (-llä/-llä), and with time expressions it often means at (a time).

• viime hetkellä = at the last moment So -llä here marks a time point, not location.

How is hetkellä formed from hetki?

hetki (moment) changes to a stem used in many cases:

• hetki → stem hetke- (you see this in forms like hetken, hetkeä) Then add adessive -llä:
• hetke- + llä → hetkellä So viime hetkellä literally uses hetke-
  • -llä.

Why is it menin (not menen) and why is minä missing?

• menin is past tense, 1st person singular of mennä (to go).
  
  • Present would be menen = I go / I’m going.
• Finnish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:
  • (Minä) menin kotiin. is possible, but usually menin kotiin is enough.

Why is it kotiin—what case is that, and what would koti, kotona, or kotoa mean?

kotiin is the illative form, used for movement into/toward a place:

• kotiin = (go) home (to home) Related forms:
• koti = home (basic form; often used as subject/object or in set expressions)
• kotona (adessive) = at home
• kotoa (ablative) = from home So menin kotiin specifically means you went to home.

Can the word order change? For example: Menin kotiin, koska tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä.

Yes—Finnish word order is fairly flexible, but connectors and meaning matter:

• Your version: Tapaaminen peruuntui…, joten menin kotiin.
  Focus: first the cancellation, then the consequence.
• Your alternative with koska (because) is also correct:
  Menin kotiin, koska tapaaminen peruuntui viime hetkellä.
  Focus: first your action, then the reason. Both are natural; they just package the information differently.