kiirettä

Kiirettä is the partitive singular form of the Finnish noun kiire, which denotes hurry, rush, or busyness. The word can refer to a state of being pressed for time or to a period of intense activity. In standard Finnish, kiirettä is used in partitive constructions, especially after negation or with quantifiers like paljon ('a lot').

Usage and examples

Kiirettä is common in everyday speech when describing workload or time pressure. For example: Viime viikolla oli paljon kiirettä töissä (There was a lot of rush at work last week). Minulla ei ole kiirettä juuri nyt (I’m not in a hurry right now). Meillä on ollut kiirettä viime aikoina (We have been busy lately). The form also appears with phrases like paljon kiirettä, vähän kiirettä, and so on, to express varying degrees of busyness or urgency.

Grammar notes

Kiire, the base noun, is a native Finnish word. Kiirettä functions as its partitive singular, which is the form typically used in contexts involving negation, measurements, or a non-quantified amount of the concept of hurry or busyness. In affirmative, non-partitive contexts, the corresponding nominative form kiro references the state more generally.

Etymology and related terms

Kiire is a conventional Finnish word with no widely adopted foreign cognates. It is related to other Finnish expressions describing time pressure and working pace. Related terms include kiireellinen (urgent), kiireinen (busy), and ajan kiire (time pressure), which reflect different facets of urgency and busyness.

See also

Kiire, kiireellinen, kiireinen, time pressure, busyness.