kesken

Finnish

Etymology

Instructive singular form of keski-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkesken/, [ˈk̟e̞s̠k̟e̞n]
  • Rhymes: -esken
  • Syllabification(key): kes‧ken
  • Hyphenation(key): kes‧ken

Adverb

kesken

  1. unfinished
    jäädä keskento be left unfinished
    Kopiointi on vielä kesken.
    The copying is not finished yet.
    Hän jätti kirjan kesken.
    He didn't finish the book.
    (literally, “He left the book unfinished.”)
  2. finished too soon
    Keitto loppui kesken, ja osa vieraista jäi nälkäisiksi.
    We ran out of soup, and some guests remained hungry.

Preposition

kesken [with genitive or partitive]

  1. in the middle of
    Pappi pyörtyi kesken puheen.
    The priest fainted in the middle of the speech.

Postposition

kesken [with genitive]

  1. between, among
    kahden keskenbetween just the two of us
    keskustella kahden keskento discuss in private
    meidän kesken, heidän kesken...among us, between them...

Inflection

Derived terms

Further reading