Viikot

Viikot are the basic time unit in Finnish used to denote a period of seven days and to refer to calendar weeks. The term is the plural form of viikko (week). In everyday Finnish, weeks are counted with numerals, as in yksi viikko (one week), kaksi viikkoa (two weeks), kolme viikkoa (three weeks). The word also participates in standard Finnish case forms, such as viikon (genitive, “of the week”), viikkoa (partitive singular), and viikkoja (partitive plural). Inessive forms include viikossa (“in a week” or “in the week”) and viikoissa (“in weeks”). The concept is used to discuss durations, schedules, and timing, for example “kolme viikkoa lomaa” (three weeks of holiday) or “viikon päästä” (after a week).

In Finnish, the week is commonly considered to begin on Monday and end on Sunday, reflecting the ISO 8601 convention used in official calendars. The compound term viikonloppu refers to the weekend, consisting of Saturday and Sunday. The word viikko also appears in various adverbs and adjectives such as viikottain (weekly) and viikoittainen (weekly, periodic).

Historically, the seven-day week is a long-standing calendar unit adopted across many cultures and languages, including Finnish, as part of the Gregorian calendar system. Viikko remains central to scheduling, education, business, and media in Finland, where phrases like “viikonloput,” “viikko-ohjelma,” and “viikkoraportti” are common.