Viideltä

Viideltä is Finnish for a time expression meaning at five o'clock. It is used to indicate the starting time of events, appointments, or routines. The form is built from the cardinal number viisi (five) with the postpositional suffix -ltä, which marks a starting point in time. In Finnish, many time expressions for hours are formed this way, such as yhdeltä (one o'clock), kahdelta (two), kolmelta (three), and so on, with viideltä representing five.

In everyday usage, viideltä appears in sentences describing when something begins. Examples: Kokous alkaa viideltä (The meeting starts at five). Menemme elokuviin viideltä (We’re going to the cinema at five). Herään viideltä (I wake up at five). The form is common in schedules and informal speech, and it can be used with verbs of starting actions.

For approximate times, speakers often use viiden aikaan (around five) or viiden tienoilla (around five). To indicate a time interval from five o’clock onward, phrases such as viideltä alkaen or viidestä eteenpäin are used. For minutes past or to the hour, different constructions appear, such as viiden yli (five past five) or viittä vaille kuusi (five to six).

Viideltä is part of a broader set of time expressions formed with the same suffix pattern, enabling concise statements about specific hours in Finnish.