kauaa

Finnish

Adverb

kauaa

1. (with negative) for a long time, for long

   En aio olla kauaa täällä.

   I'm not planning to be here for long.

Usage notes

Used as the negative form of kauan, although kauan can also be used in negative sentences, in which the two are synonymous. kauan is more common in literary or formal text, while kauaa is more common in informal text and was once considered nonstandard.

Both forms can also be seen in questions, in which case there is a difference in nuance:

Aiotko olla kauan täällä?

Are you going to be here for a long time? (neutral)

Aiotko olla kauaa täällä?

Are you going to be here for a long time? (implying expectation or wish for the answer to be negative)

Compare also:

Aiotko olla pitkään täällä?

Are you going to be here for a long time? (neutral, somewhat more common than "kauan" in questions)

Inflection

Declension of kauaa noun case singular plural adverbial form singular plural nominative kauko- – superessive – – genitive – – delative – – partitive kauaa, kaukaa – sublative – – accusative – – lative kauas – inessive – – temporal – – elative – – causative – – illative – – multiplicative – – adessive – – distributive – – ablative – – temp. dist. – – allative – – prolative – – essive kaukana – situative – – translative kauaksi – oppositive – – abessive kauan – instructive – – comitative – –