On this page, you can find information about all the different ways to ask about time. There are many ways and each require their own kind of answer, which can be quite confusing! Many courses of the B1.1 level will start going through all these thoroughly, so this is a subject that requires some basic knowledge already before you look at some of the more rare questions of time.

1. Milloin?

The question milloin is the one that is the broadest and can be answered with the widest number of options. Milloin can refer to the past and the future, and it can refer to clock times as well as dates and years. This is a good place to start when learning about questions of time.

2. Mihin aikaan?

Mihin aikaan always refers to the clock, to the time at which something happened or will happen. It’s not used to refer to what time it is right now; the question for that is “mitä kello on?”.

Learn more about the clock in our separate article!

3. Moneltako?

Moneltako is the other way of asking for the clock. It is only used with whole and half hours and the question word specifically asks for the time to be inflected in the ablative case. You can learn more about moneltako on our page about the clock.

4. Oletko Koskaan?

The question oletko koskaan is used when you want to know if someone has ever done something. The answer to the question doesn’t necessarily have to have specific information in it about when the event took place. If the person replying doesn’t provide a time, you can use the question milloin viimeksi to find out more.

You will use the perfect tense for this, because this question leaves open the possibility of you perhaps doing it some time in the future. The question itself refers to a past event though.

5. Milloin Viimeksi?

When you want to know when someone did something last, you will use the question word milloin in combination with viimeksi. This is only used with past events. The most common ways to reply to this question either include “sitten” (e.g. kaksi viikkoa sitten = two weeks ago) or “viime” (e.g. viime vuonna = last year).

6. Kuinka usein?

This question is used to enquire about how often someone does or has done something. The most common ways to answer to this question is either with joka (e.g. joka viikko = every week) or with kertaa (e.g. kerran päivässä = once a day; kaksi kertaa päivässä = two times a day). It’s used for ongoing events, so you will still be continuing the action in the future.

7. Kuinka kauan?

When you want to know how long something has lasted or will last, you can ask kuinka kauan. The answer can appear in a variety of forms. You can give the time frame (e.g. two weeks), or focus on when the time period ends (e.g. until thursday).

8. Kuinka pitkään?

If you want to know more about the duration of an event, you can ask kuinka pitkään tämä on jatkunut? (how long has this been going on). I’m not sure what the difference is between “kuinka pitkään” and “kuinka kauan”. I have the feeling that “kuinka pitkään” works better with past events than “kuinka kauan”, but I might be wrong there.

9. Miksi ajaksi? Kuinka pitkäksi ajaksi?

This question is rarely used, but in affirmative sentences it is used regularly to express for how long you plan(ned) to do something. Kuinka pitkäksi ajaksi is much more common as a question.

10. Kuinka moneksi?

Another question that uses the translative case (-ksi). This one is used when you have a more specific time frame in mind when asking about how long something will take: you want to know the number of days, weeks or months.

11. Missä ajassa?

The question missä ajassa mainly gets a response that’s also inflected in the inessive case (-ssa). It refers to the time period in which a goal is thought to be achieved or has been achieved.

12. Mihin mennessä?

This question mainly refers to a deadline, a final date by which something has to have been taken care of. More often than not, this question will contain “täytyy”, “pitää” or another kind of necessity expression. The answer will have the time span inflected in the illative case, with the word “mennessä” behind it.

13. Mistä mihin?

If you want to know the time span of something and get information about both the start and end of it, there is the mistä mihin option. As a question this is used fairly rarely, but you can use it in many situations.

14. Kuinka pitkän ajan päästä?

The postposition päästä expresses how long from the start of the event something will continue. It refers to future events. Because it’s a postposition, you will put the timespan in the genitive case. Instead of the question kuinka pitkän ajan päästä you can also just ask milloin.

Related posts:

Telling the Time in Finnish: Mitä kello on? Ajanilmaukset – Expressions of Time – Example Sentences Timespans – Mistä Mihin – From when until when Finnish Question Words – Interrogative Pronouns