parin

In a sentence

• Kävelin parin ystävän kanssa puistossa.

  I walked in the park with a couple of friends.

  In this sentence, 'parin' indicates a small number or a couple of something.

• Tarvitsen vielä parin vapaaehtoista auttamaan.

  I still need a couple of volunteers to help.

  Here, 'parin' is used to specify an approximate small number or pair of a subject.

• Korjasin sen parin minuutin aikana.

  I fixed it within a couple of minutes.

  In this context, 'parin' denotes a short amount of time, roughly two minutes.

• Tarvitsen parin kynän muistiinpanoihin.

  I need a couple of pens for taking notes.

  The word 'parin' in this sentence serves as the partitive form of 'pari', meaning 'a pair' or 'a couple of'. It is used here to express an approximate small quantity.

• Hän löysi parin hanskoja metsästä.

  She found a pair of gloves in the forest.

  The word 'parin' is again the partitive form of 'pari', indicating a pair — two items that are related or belong together.

• Olen tuntenut tuon miehen jo parin vuoden ajan.

  I have known that man for a couple of years.

  The word 'parin' in this sentence is used to mean 'a couple of', referring to a small, approximate number of years, and it modifies the word 'vuoden', time units.