ehtyä

Ehtyä is a Finnish verb meaning to have time to do something or to manage to perform an action before a deadline or before something else occurs, and also to arrive in time. The core nuance is feasibility within a given time frame, rather than the action itself. It is used to express whether a person can complete a task, attend an event, or reach a place before a specified time.

The verb covers both being able to complete an action and being on time. In everyday speech it appears in phrases such as en ehdi (I don’t have time / I won’t make it), hän ehtii (he/she has time / can manage), and ehdin/ehdit/ehtii forms for different subjects. Common usages include ehtiä mukaan (to manage to join in) and ehtiä junaan (to catch the train). Ehtyä can therefore describe both opportunities to act and punctuality.

Usage notes and examples help illustrate its range. Examples: En ehtinyt vastata puhelimeen (I didn’t have time to answer the phone); Hän ehti junaan (He made it to the train / caught the train); Ehditkö tulla mukaan? (Did you have time to come along?). The verb conjugates like other Finnish verbs, with present tense forms such as minä ehdin, sinä ehdit, hän ehtii, and regular patterns apply to past and other tenses.

Etymology traces ehtyä to native Finnish roots, and the word is firmly established in standard Finnish. It is a common, versatile verb used across informal and formal registers to discuss time management, delays, and punctuality.