vuodet
The English phrase 'years' is translated into Finnish as vuodet.
This term refers to the plural form of a period consisting of twelve months.
Which one should you use?
If you are expressing an indefinite number of years or if the years are the object of an ongoing action, you should use the partitive plural form vuosia. To express 'in years' or 'during years', use the essive form vuosina.
How does it change in a sentence?
The singular form of this word is vuosi. To express possession or the phrase 'of the year', use the genitive singular form vuoden. As noted, use vuosia for partitive contexts and vuosina for the essive 'in years'. In informal contexts, an apostrophe before numbers can be used to indicate an abbreviation.
Did you know?
- In Finnish, you do not 'have' years to describe your age. Instead, you say minulla on … vuotta, which literally means 'on me there are … years'.
- The expression vuosikaupalla is used to describe something that has lasted for 'years and years', effectively turning the word for 'trade' or 'deal' into a suffix for long durations.
- When describing a 'light-year', Finnish uses the term valovuosi, combining the words for 'light' and 'year' into a single compound word.
Examples in context
- Vuodet kuluivat.Years passed.This sentence shows how to use vuodet to describe the passage of time.Tatoeba #2802697 by Kalle63, translation #282197 by CK
- Nämä vuodet ovat olleet hyviä.These years have been good.
Example conversation
Antti and Laura are talking about their time in school.
- AnttiMuistatko vielä kouluvuodet?Do you still remember the school years?
- LauraKyllä, ne vuodet olivat hauskoja.Yes, those years were fun.
- AnttiMeillä oli paljon ystäviä.We had many friends.
- LauraTotta, aika kului nopeasti.True, time flew by.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
