At the tickets office, Lesson 5

Lippukassalla

Finnish train

Matti is in Helsinki and he's going to buy a ticket to Turku where he's going to visit his family.

Matti on Helsingissä ja aikoo ostaa lipun Turkuun. Turussa hän aikoo tavata perhettä.

Lexicon

Kysymykset - questions

Wh-questions are formed with an interrogative pronoun.

interrogative pronouns
mikä what
missä where
mistä from where
minne where to
milloin when
miten how
miksi why
millainen what kind of
Mikä on maailman korkein vuori?
What is the highest mountain in the world?
Missä on maailman pisin joki?
Where is the longest river in the world?
Mistä ovat kotoisin appelsiinit?
Where do the oranges come from?
Minne Tonava laskee?
Where does the Donau end?
Milloin solmittiin Tarton rauha?
When was Tartu peace concluded?
Miten mämmiä valmistetaan?
How mämmi is made?
Miksi kirahvilla on pitkä kaula?
Why the giraffe does have a long neck?
Millainen eläin on vompatti?
What kind of animal is a wombat?

See the grammar section for more info about questions.

Paikat - locations

In Finnish, the locations are expressed by cases instead of prepositions. There are six different location cases. (See also the grammar part,)

Inessive expresses being inside, it can be translated in, within or at, it ends with -ssa.

Turussa, Helsingissä
in Turku, in Helsinki

Elative expresses coming out, it can be translated from, or out of, it ends with -sta.

Turusta, Helsingistä
from Turku, from Helsinki

Illative expresses going in or to a place, it can be translated into or to, it ends with long vowel and n, or -hin.

Turkuun, Helsinkiin
to Turku, to Helsinki

These three are interior location cases by common name.

Adessive is used for at, on or top of. Sometimes also near of, about or around of something, it ends with -lla.

asemalla, pöydällä
at the station, on the table

Ablative expresses leaving a place, the ending is -lta.

Allative is used for on to or to, ending with -lle.

lle, asemalle
on the table, on the station

These three are exterior location cases.

The cases connotate not only a location but also a direction. This is very logical, but may be difficult to understand, if there is a different system in your native language.

Examples: Questions and locations together

Missä sinä asut? Minä asun Turussa.
Where do you live? I live in Turku.
Minne menet? Menen kahvilaan.
Where are you going? I'm going to a cafe.
Minne matkustat maanantaina? Matkustan maalle.
Where will you travel on Monday?I will travel to the countryside.
Missä avain on? Avain on pöydällä.
Where's the key? The key is on the table.
Miltä laiturilta juna lähtee? Juna lähtee laiturilta kaksi.
where's the train leaving? The train is leaving from the platform 2.

Exercises


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