ateriahetkellä

Ateriahetkellä is a Finnish expression that denotes the time of a meal, roughly translating to “at mealtime” or “during a meal.” It functions as a time adverbial and is used in written and spoken Finnish to situate actions in relation to when meals take place. The phrase can appear in recipes, instruction texts, narratives, schedules, and descriptive writing.

Etymology and form: the term is a compound formed from the noun ateria (meal) and hetkellä, the adessive form of hetki (moment, time) indicating a temporal reference. In Finnish, such compound time expressions are common and versatile, able to modify verbs or entire clauses to specify timing.

Usage: ateriahetkellä can introduce or modify a sentence to indicate timing. Examples include: “Ateriahetkellä pöytä katetaan ja vieraat saapuvat.” (At mealtime the table is set and guests arrive.) “Ateriahetkellä kannattaa välttää kiirettä.” (During mealtime it is advisable to avoid rushing.) The expression is most typical in neutral, informative, or descriptive contexts and is found in both formal and semi-formal registers.

Variants and related forms: common time-specific variants include lounashetkellä (at lunchtime), aamiaisen hetkellä (at breakfast time), and illallishetkellä or illallisella (at dinnertime). More general alternatives include aterian aikana (during the meal) or a time phrase such as “meidän aikoihimme” depending on style and precision.

See also: Finnish language; Finnish compound nouns; time expressions in Finnish.