Postpositions of Cause: Vuoksi
In Finnish, postpositions often require the preceding word to be in the genitive case (ending in -n). To say "because of", use the postposition vuoksi.
For example, maanjäristys (earthquake) becomes maanjäristyksen before vuoksi.
| The building collapsed because of the earthquake. | Rakennus romahti maanjäristyksen vuoksi. |
| We evacuated the city because of the hurricane. | Evakuoimme kaupungin hirmumyrskyn vuoksi. |
Formal Consequences: Johdosta
When talking about official situations, emergencies, or direct consequences, use johdosta. It translates to "due to" or "as a result of" and sounds slightly more formal than vuoksi. Like vuoksi, it takes the genitive case.
| The bridge collapsed due to the hurricane. | Silta romahti hirmumyrskyn johdosta. |
You can place the postpositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize the cause.
| Due to the hurricane, many houses were destroyed. | Hirmumyrskyn johdosta moni talo tuhoutui. |
| Due to the power outage, we are not able to call for help. | Sähkökatkon johdosta emme kykene soittamaan apua. |
Positive Outcomes: Ansiosta
When a cause leads to a positive or successful result, use ansiosta. It translates to "thanks to" and is related to the Finnish word for "merit". It also requires the genitive case, changing words like pelastusoperaatio (rescue operation) to pelastusoperaation.
| Thanks to the rescue operation, everyone survived. | Pelastusoperaation ansiosta kaikki selviytyivät. |
| Thanks to the precautionary measure, we survived. | Varotoimenpiteen ansiosta selvisimme. |
| Thanks to the dog, the police found him. | Koiran ansiosta poliisi löysi hänet. |
