vaille
See also: väille
Finnish edit
Etymology edit
Originally the allative form of the root vai-, vaja- of vajaa.
Pronunciation edit
Postposition edit
vaille (+ partitive)
- (temporal) to, till
- Antonym: yli
- Kello on viisi minuuttia vaille kuusi.
- It's five minutes to six.
- Kello on viittä vaille kuusi.
- It's five to six.
- Onko kello jo kolme? -Ei, se on viittä vaille.
- Is it already three o'clock? -No, it's five to.
Usage notes edit
- Note that grammatically speaking, the postposition vaille takes the time left (five minutes) as its complement phrase, unlike the English preposition to, which takes the moment in future (six) as its complement phrase.
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- “vaille”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
vaille