Saying the Date

Level 2

Finnish dates use ordinal numbers (e.g., 5th) rather than cardinal numbers (e.g., 5). To say 'on the 5th', you add the essive case ending -na/-nä to the ordinal stem.

How It Works

In Finnish, dates follow specific structures involving ordinal numbers.

1. Two Ways to Say the Date

  • Ordinal + Month in Partitive: viides tammikuuta (the 5th of January).
  • Month in Genitive + Ordinal: tammikuun viides (January's 5th).

2. Nominative vs. Essive

  • Nominative: Used for identifying the date (e.g., 'Today is...'). Example: Tänään on kuudes joulukuuta.
  • Essive (-na/-nä): Used to say when something happens (e.g., 'on the 6th'). Example: Tulkaa meille kuudentena joulukuuta.

3. Asking the Date
To ask 'what date', use the word monesko. To ask 'on what date', use the essive form monentenako.

4. Stem Changes
When adding the essive ending -na to ordinals ending in -s, the -s changes to -nte- (e.g., neljäs → neljäntenä). For ensimmäinen and toinen, the -nen changes to -se- (e.g., toisena).

5. Expressing the Year
To say 'in the year [Year]', use the word vuonna (the essive of vuosi) followed by the number in its basic form. Example: vuonna 2024 (in the year 2024).

6. Writing Dates
A period (.) is always used after the number to indicate it is an ordinal. For example, 6.12. means 'the 6th of the 12th month'.

Examples (6)

  1. Tänään on yhdestoista tammikuuta.

    Today is the eleventh of January.

    Word by Word: Today is eleventh January-partitive.

    Here the date is in the nominative because it is identifying what today is.

  2. Kurssi alkaa neljäntenä toukokuuta.

    The course starts on the fourth of May.

    Word by Word: Course starts fourth-essive May-partitive.

    The essive case (-na) is used here to indicate 'on' a specific date. Note the stem change from neljäs to neljänte-.

  3. Itsenäisyyspäivä on joulukuun kuudes.

    Independence Day is the sixth of December.

    Word by Word: Independence-day is December-genitive sixth.

    This uses the alternative pattern: Month in Genitive + Ordinal in Nominative.

  4. Monesko päivä tänään on?

    What is the date today?

    Word by Word: Which-ordinal day today is?

    The question word 'monesko' is used to ask for an ordinal number, like a date.

  5. Hän syntyi vuonna tuhatyhdeksänsataayhdeksänkymmentä.

    He was born in the year 1990.

    Word by Word: He was-born year-essive one-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety.

    To express a year, use the word 'vuosi' in the essive case (vuonna) followed by the number in the nominative.

  6. Monentenako päivänä juhlat ovat?

    On which date is the party?

    Word by Word: On-which-ordinal day party is?

    When asking 'on which date', the question word 'monesko' also takes the essive ending -na.

Common Mistakes

  • Using cardinal numbers instead of ordinals for dates.

    Tänään on kaksi toukokuuta.
    Tänään on toinen toukokuuta.

    In Finnish, dates are always 'orders' (2nd, 3rd), never 'counts' (2, 3).

  • Forgetting the essive case when saying 'on' a date.

    Tulkaa viides lokakuuta.
    Tulkaa viidentenä lokakuuta.

    If you are specifying a time when an event happens, you must use the essive case (-na).

  • Capitalizing the month name.

    Tammikuuta
    tammikuuta

    In Finnish, months and weekdays are written with lowercase letters.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Saying the DateLevel 2

Learn This First

To say the date in Finnish, you need to know how to form ordinal numbers (like 'kolmas' for third). You also need to understand the partitive case, as the month name follows the number in the partitive (e.g., 'maaliskuuta'). Finally, familiarity with the essive case (-na) used in time expressions is required to inflect the ordinal number correctly when stating when something happens.