Vesikatkon aikana en voi tiskata, joten teen tiskit myöhemmin.

During the water outage I can’t do the dishes, so I’ll do them later.

Breakdown of Vesikatkon aikana en voi tiskata, joten teen tiskit myöhemmin.

• minä: I
• myöhemmin: later (adverb)
• joten: so
• ei: not

Questions & Answers about Vesikatkon aikana en voi tiskata, joten teen tiskit myöhemmin.

Why is it vesikatkon aikana and not vesikatko aikana?

Because aikana (during) typically requires the noun before it to be in the genitive case.

• vesikatko = a water cut / water outage
• vesikatkon = genitive singular (of the water cut)
  So vesikatkon aikana literally means during the water outage.

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What exactly does vesikatko mean, and how is it formed?

Vesikatko is a compound noun:

• vesi = water
• katko = break, interruption, cut (from the idea of katkaista = to cut off)
  So vesikatko = interruption in the water supply (a water outage).

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How does Finnish express “I can’t” in en voi?

Finnish uses a negative verb that conjugates for person:

• en = I (negative verb)
  Then the main verb takes a special form called the connegative, which looks like the basic stem:
• voi = connegative form of voida (to be able to/can)

So en voi = I cannot / I’m not able to.

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