olema

olema pl (plural only)

1. Alternative form of ulema
   • 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 20:

     the land of Egypt was ruled by a Sultan endowed with justice and generosity, one who loved the pious poor and companied with the Olema and learned men

• Meola, amelo-, amole, lame-o, lameo, maleo

From Proto-Finnic *oldak, from Proto-Uralic *wole-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈolemɑ/, [ˈolemɑ]
• Rhymes: -olemɑ
• Hyphenation: o‧le‧ma

olema (da-infinitive olla)

1. (copulative) to be (indicating that the subject and the complement of the verb form the same thing)
2. (intransitive) to be (occupy a place)
3. (copulative) to be, constitute, make up, form
4. (intransitive, impersonal + adessive) to have; to own, to possess

   Synonym: omama (“to own”)

   Mul on kass. ― I have a cat.

   Mul ei ole kassi. ― I don't have a cat.

5. (intransitive, impersonal + inessive) to have, to possess (as a feature or capability, as opposed to simple possession; almost always for inanimate subjects)
6. (intransitive, impersonal + adessive or + genitive) to have (a sensation)
7. (intransitive, impersonal) there be

   Laual on kass. ― There is a cat on the table.

   Laual ei ole kassi. ― There is no cat on the table.

   Laual on kassid. ― There are cats on the table.

   Laual on kasse. ― There are (some) cats on the table.

   Laual ei ole kasse. ― There are no cats on the table.

   1. (intransitive) Synonym of olemas olema (“to exist”)
8. (auxiliary) to have (a verb to build active present perfect tense and active past perfect tense, taking active the past participle ending -nud)

   Ma olen täna juba söönud. ― I have already eaten today.

9. (auxiliary) to have (a verb to build impersonal simple past tense, impersonal passive present perfect tense and impersonal passive past perfect tense taking the passive past participle, ending -tud)

   Hommikusöök oli juba söödud. ― Breakfast had already been eaten.

• olema in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “olema”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

• IPA^(key): /ˈolemɑ/, [ˈo̞le̞mɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -olemɑ
• Hyphenation^(key): ole‧ma

olema

1. (rare) agent participle of olla
   • 1939, E. A. Pulli, “USA:n sosiaaliset kasvot ovat muuttumassa”, in Työväen kalenteri, number 32, page 157:

     Tämän mukaan voi työläinen saada työttömyysavustusta yhden viikon aikana jokaista työssä olemaansa neljää viikkoa kohden.

     According to this, a worker may receive unemployment benefits for one week for every four weeks he or she is working.

   • 1969, “4§”, in Asetus valtion virka-ansiomerkistä annetun asetuksen muuttamisesta (229/1969):

     Palvelukseksi, jota 1 momentissa tarkoitetaan, luetaan siinä mainitussa virassa tai toimessa suoritetun palveluksen lisäksi myös se aika, minkä asianomainen virkasuhteen nojalla on ennen sanottua palvelusta tai sen jälkeen ollut muussa päätoimiseksi katsottavassa valtion palveluksessa, sekä aika, minkä hän sotatilan aikana on ollut sotapalveluksessa, samoin kuin lakkautuspalkalla olemansa aika.

     The period of service referred to in subsection 1 shall include, in addition to the period of service in the office or position mentioned therein, the period during which the person concerned, on the grounds of his or her status as a civil servant, held another government position as his or her main occupation prior or subsequently to the said period of service, as well as the period during which he or she has performed military service during a state of war, and the period he or she was receiving availability pay.

   • 1999 October 5, Erkki Pulliainen, “Puhemiesneuvoston ehdotus uudeksi eduskunnan työjärjestykseksi”, in parliamentary debates (Eduskunta), page 2007, column 1:

     Minusta tämä eduskuntatyö on kehittynyt tämän täällä olemani 12 vuoden aikana äärimmäisen paljon positiivisempaan suuntaan.

     In my opinion, during the 12 years I have been here, the parliamentary work done here has developed into an extremely more positive direction.

olla is not a transitive verb, but this usage exists because of the so-called "object-like adverbials of quantity" (osma), in which a quantity (such as a period of time for some action) acts like an object syntactically. Because of this, for olema, the 'object' is practically always a period of time.