# olla kirjoilla



## Gavril

What does _olla kirjoilla _mean in the following sentence?

_Hän jätti yliopisto-opinnot Tampereella kesken puolitoista vuotta sitten ja on sen jälkeen ollut kirjoilla äitinsä luona.

_"She dropped out of her university studies in Tampere a year and a half ago and, since then, has been [on the books?] at her mother's."


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## hui

"She dropped out of her university studies in Tampere a year and a half ago and, since then, has been *living officially* at her mother's."

olla kirjoilla = asua virallisesti (väestörekisteriin merkityssä osoitteessa)


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## Gavril

hui said:


> "She dropped out of her university studies in Tampere a year and a half ago and, since then, has been *living officially* at her mother's."
> 
> olla kirjoilla = asua virallisesti (väestörekisteriin merkityssä osoitteessa)



Ah, so _kirjoilla _is similar to the English phrase "on the books". However, the phrase "on the books" is mostly used (in my experience) when talking about financial accounting: "The company was only worth $1 million on the books, but they had $2 million more in profits that they didn't report". Unlike _kirjoilla, _I wouldn't use this phrase to talk about a person's official residence.


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## JukkaT

"Olla kirjoilla" means "to live officially in one place" (you may or may not live there in practice).
But it can also mean "to study" -> "Olen kirjoilla Turun yliopistossa" "I study at the University of Turku". It's usually used when one does have right to study at one place, but he doesn't really study there that much.



> "The company was only worth $1 million on the books, but they had $2 million more in profits that they didn't report"


In this case the finnish equivalent would be "paperilla" ->"Yhtiö oli paperilla miljoonan arvoinen, mutta heillä oli kaksi miljoonaa voittoa, jota ei ollut ilmoitettu"

Hope you understand my english Lately I have studied so much spanish and catalan that my english skills are cr....


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