Learn Finnish: Hyvää pakkausta ei hylätä. - A good package is not rejected.

Hyvää pakkausta ei hylätä.

A good package is not rejected.

Breakdown of Hyvää pakkausta ei hylätä.

hyvä

good

no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)

pakkaus

the package (packaging, container)

hylätä

to reject / to abandon

Questions & Answers about Hyvää pakkausta ei hylätä.

How do we form the negative passive in ei hylätä?

To make a negative passive, you take the affirmative passive form and remove the double vowel and the -n at the end. The affirmative passive of hylätä (to reject) is hylätään (is rejected). Drop the -än to get the negative form hylätä, and put the negative word ei in front.

Why are hyvää and pakkausta in the partitive case here?

In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. Even though a good package feels like the subject in the English translation, in Finnish passive sentences it is grammatically the object. Since the action is negative (ei hylätä), the object takes the partitive form.

Is it a coincidence that the negative passive ei hylätä looks exactly like the dictionary form of the verb?

Yes, it is a handy coincidence for Type 4 verbs! Because of how they are formed, the negative passive form for verb type 4 (like hylätä, haluta, or tavata) will always look identical to the basic dictionary form. For example, tavataan (is met) becomes ei tavata (is not met).

What is the dictionary form of pakkausta?