The Conditional Present Passive Negative
When advocating for the preservation of historical spaces, you will often need to express what would not or should not be done generally. For this, we use the negative form of the conditional present passive.
Forming the Negative
Forming the negative conditional passive is simple if you already know the positive form. Start with the negative word ei. Then, take the positive conditional passive (which ends in -iin) and drop the final -in.
| Verb | Positive Conditional Passive | Negative Conditional Passive | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| korvata | korvattaisiin | ei korvattaisi | would not be replaced |
| tuhota | tuhottaisiin | ei tuhottaisi | would not be destroyed |
| purkaa | purettaisiin | ei purettaisi | would not be demolished |
| säilyttää | säilytettäisiin | ei säilytettäisi | would not be preserved |
| entisöidä | entisöitäisiin | ei entisöitäisi | would not be restored |
Remember that the object of a negative sentence takes the partitive case. Notice how the subjects of our preservation efforts appear in the partitive (e.g., maamerkkiä, arkkitehtuuria) in the examples below.
| landmark | maamerkki |
Here is how you can use the negative conditional passive to state what would never happen to a landmark or other historical architecture:
| An important landmark would never be replaced with a modern hotel. | Tärkeää maamerkkiä ei koskaan korvattaisi modernilla hotellilla. |
| Historical architecture would not be destroyed without a good reason. | Historiallista arkkitehtuuria ei tuhottaisi ilman hyvää syytä. |
You can also use this structure to explain the conditions required to protect cultural heritage:
| The old heritage would not be preserved without a new generation. | Vanhaa perintöä ei säilytettäisi ilman uutta sukupolvea. |
| The buildings in the city center would not be demolished, because the cityscape is important. | Keskustan rakennuksia ei purettaisi, koska kaupunkikuva on tärkeä. |
Finally, this form is very useful for asking rhetorical or probing questions about why certain protective actions wouldn't be taken:
| Why would the historical church not be restored faster? | Miksi historiallista kirkkoa ei entisöitäisi nopeammin? |