Talk:yli

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Feedback.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

---

According tu Uuno1 (http://www.uuno.tamk.fi/uuno/uuno/index.html -> at school -> grammar), "vartin yli viisi" means "quarter past five", and here the postposition "yli" has clearly taken the genitive case and not partitive as this article says it should when meaning time ("vartin" and not "varttia"). Is that a mistake in Wikitionary, in Uuno or are both cases possible?

Both cases are possible, but at least to me vartin yli sounds better. Perhaps the explanation is that the case is actually accusative, which in Finnish has two forms. Genitive-accusative is used with clearly defined objects and partitive with so called partial objects. To demonstrate the difference, leikkaan ruohikon means that I will cut the whole lawn whereas leikkaan ruohikkoa means that I'm cutting the lawn but I have not finished yet or that I'm planning to cut only part of it. If that is the case vartin yli would be a slightly more precise expression than varttia yli. However, it is more likely just a question of personal preference, possibly influenced by the fact that "a quarter to" is always varttia vaille. --Hekaheka 21:24, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I found very useful what you just wrote; may I add it to the usage notes?--201.95.65.32 13:24, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, of course. --Hekaheka 20:13, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Done.--201.95.65.32 20:56, 15 December 2009 (UTC)