Viikoja

Viikoja is the partitive plural form of the Finnish noun viikko, which means a week. In Finnish grammar, the partitive case is used in various contexts to indicate an indefinite or non-total quantity, duration, or non-precise measurement. Viikoja therefore appears mainly in phrases that describe weeks in a non-specific way, or when a verb governs the noun in the partitive.

In addition to viikoja, the word viikko has other forms important for understanding usage. The nominative plural viikot refers to weeks as a definite countable group, such as a list of weeks. The partitive singular viikkoa is used after numerals in several common constructions, for example kolmas viikkoa would be nonstandard; more typical is kolme viikkoa or kolme viikkoa depending on the exact grammatical context. The important distinction is that viikoja signals a non-specific or multi-week duration, while viikot points to a definite set of weeks.

Common examples illustrate its use. Kolme viikkoa on kulunut means three weeks have passed, using the partitive singular after the numeral. Useita viikkoja kestävä projekti describes a project that lasts several weeks, employing the partitive plural. Viikkoja sitten tarkoittaa “weeks ago.” These forms show how Finnish uses different case endings to express quantity and tempo of time.

See also viikko, the basic term for a week, and Finnish grammar topics such as the partitive case and numeral agreement. Viikoja is a grammatical form rather than a separate lexical item, and its correct use depends on the surrounding syntactic context.