Viivästys ei haittaa meitä paljon, koska meillä on aikaa juoda kahvia ennen turvatarkastusta.

Because viivästys is the subject of the sentence: the delay is the thing doing the affecting.

• viivästys = delay
• ei haittaa = does not bother / does not harm
• meitä = us

So the structure is:

• Viivästys ei haittaa meitä
  = The delay does not bother us

In Finnish, the thing that causes the inconvenience is often the subject, and the people affected are put in the object form.

Because meitä is the partitive form of me.

The verb haitata often takes its object in the partitive, especially when talking about something affecting or bothering someone in a general or ongoing way.

• me = we
• meidät = us (total object)
• meitä = us (partitive object)

Here, meitä fits the normal pattern with haitata:

• Se haittaa minua. = It bothers me.
• Melu haittaa meitä. = The noise bothers us.

So meitä is used because us is the object of haittaa.

Here haittaa is a verb, from the infinitive haitata.

It is the 3rd person singular present tense form:

• haitata = to bother, to inconvenience, to harm
• (se) haittaa = it bothers / it harms

So:

• Viivästys ei haittaa meitä
  literally: The delay does not bother us

This can be confusing because haitta is also a noun meaning harm, disadvantage, or nuisance. But in your sentence, haittaa is clearly the verb.

Finnish forms negation with a special negative verb plus the main verb in a special form.

So instead of doing something like English does not bother, Finnish uses:

• ei = negative verb for he/she/it
• haittaa = main verb form used with negation here

Examples:

• minä en tiedä = I do not know
• sinä et tiedä = you do not know
• hän ei tiedä = he/she does not know

In your sentence:

• viivästys ei haittaa = the delay does not bother

The negative verb agrees with the subject, not with the object.

Paljon means much, a lot, or very much, depending on context.

Here it modifies the verb haittaa:

• ei haittaa paljon = does not bother us much

So the sentence means that the delay is not a big problem.

Compare:

• Se ei haittaa. = It doesn’t matter / It doesn’t bother.
• Se ei haittaa paljon. = It doesn’t bother much.
• Se haittaa paljon. = It bothers a lot.

Finnish usually expresses having with the structure:

• [someone] + adessive + on
• literally: at someone there is

So:

• minulla on = I have
• sinulla on = you have
• meillä on = we have

In your sentence:

• meillä on aikaa
  literally: at us is time
  natural English: we have time

This is one of the most important basic Finnish patterns.

Because aikaa is the partitive singular of aika.

With expressions like on aikaa (there is time / have time), Finnish often uses the partitive to mean some amount of time, not one clearly limited whole unit.

• aika = time
• aikaa = some time / time (as an uncountable amount)

So:

• Meillä on aikaa. = We have time.
• Minulla ei ole aikaa. = I don’t have time.

This is very natural Finnish. English learners often want nominative here, but the partitive is the normal choice.

Because kahvia is the partitive form of kahvi.

After many verbs, the object is in the partitive when you mean an unspecified amount or part of something. With drinks and food, this is very common.

• juoda kahvia = to drink coffee
• syödä leipää = to eat bread
• ostaa maitoa = to buy milk

If you said kahvin, that would usually mean a more definite, complete object, such as the coffee or a coffee in a more bounded sense.

In this sentence, juoda kahvia simply means to drink some coffee / have coffee, so the partitive is the natural choice.

Turvatarkastusta is in the partitive singular, because the postposition ennen (before) requires the partitive.

• ennen = before
• turvatarkastus = security check
• ennen turvatarkastusta = before the security check

This is something you usually just learn as a pattern:

• ennen matkaa = before the trip
• ennen ruokaa = before food / before the meal
• ennen kokousta = before the meeting

So here, ennen controls the case of the following noun.

It is a compound noun:

• turva = safety, security
• tarkastus = inspection, check

So:

• turvatarkastus = security check / security screening

Compound nouns are extremely common in Finnish. English often uses separate words where Finnish uses one combined word.

Other examples:

• lentokenttä = airport
• matkalaukku = suitcase
• henkilökortti = identity card

Because Finnish often uses this structure:

• olla aikaa tehdä jotain
  = to have time to do something

So:

• meillä on aikaa juoda kahvia
  = we have time to drink coffee

The infinitive juoda works like English to drink, except Finnish dictionary forms do not usually include the word to.

More examples:

• Minulla on aikaa levätä. = I have time to rest.
• Onko sinulla aikaa puhua? = Do you have time to talk?

Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, but this is the most neutral order.

The clause:

• koska meillä on aikaa juoda kahvia
• because we have time to drink coffee

has a very natural information flow:

1. koska = because
2. meillä = for us / we have
3. on = is
4. aikaa = time
5. juoda kahvia = to drink coffee

You could move things around for emphasis, but the given version sounds neutral and standard.

For example:

• Koska meillä on aikaa, voimme juoda kahvia.
• Kahvia meillä on aikaa juoda ennen turvatarkastusta.

These are possible, but they shift emphasis or style.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Very often in everyday Finnish:

• Ei haittaa. = No problem. / It’s okay. / Never mind.

In your sentence, though, it clearly keeps its more literal sense:

• Viivästys ei haittaa meitä paljon
  = The delay doesn’t bother us much

So the phrase can range from a literal bother/harm meaning to a more conversational that’s okay meaning.

Finnish does not normally have articles like English a/an and the.

So:

• viivästys can mean a delay or the delay
• turvatarkastus can mean a security check or the security check
• kahvia can mean coffee / some coffee

The exact meaning depends on context.

In your sentence, English would naturally translate them with articles:

• The delay doesn’t bother us much, because we have time to drink coffee before the security check.

But Finnish does not need separate article words to express that.

Sometimes, yes, but koska is the most straightforward choice here.

• koska = because
• sillä can also mean for / because, but it is a bit more formal or written in many contexts

So your sentence naturally uses:

• koska meillä on aikaa... = because we have time...

For a learner, koska is the best everyday word to remember for because.

Yes, it sounds natural and idiomatic.

A Finnish speaker would understand it immediately, and the grammar is very normal:

• Viivästys ei haittaa meitä paljon = a natural way to say the delay is not a big issue
• meillä on aikaa = standard we have time
• juoda kahvia ennen turvatarkastusta = very natural infinitive + object + time expression

So this is a good example sentence for several important Finnish patterns at once.