Breakdown of Se on salaisuus, mutta kaikki tietävät sen.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
mutta
but
tietää
to know
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
salaisuus
secret
Questions & Answers about Se on salaisuus, mutta kaikki tietävät sen.
Why does the verb tietävät have a plural ending when the English translation says everyone knows?
In English, everyone is a singular word. In Finnish, when kaikki means everyone or all people, it is treated as plural. That is why the verb takes the plural -vat ending.
Can kaikki also mean everything?
Yes! Kaikki can mean everyone, all, or everything. You can often tell them apart by the verb. When it means everyone, it acts as a plural subject, so the verb is plural (tietävät). When it means everything, it acts as a singular subject, so the verb would be singular (tietää).
Why is the word for it se at the beginning of the sentence, but sen at the end?
At the beginning, se is the subject (It is a secret). At the end, sen is the object of the verb (everyone knows it). Because knowing the secret is a complete action, the object takes the genitive shape sen instead of the basic nominative se.
How is the word salaisuus formed?
It comes from the adjective salainen (secret). The ending -uus is often added to adjectives to turn them into nouns, similar to the English ending -ness. So salaisuus translates to a secret or secrecy.
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