Breakdown of Jos sali on kylmä, meillä on toinen vaihtoehto.
olla
to be
me
we
kylmä
cold
toinen
other, another; second
jos
if
sali
hall
vaihtoehto
alternative
Questions & Answers about Jos sali on kylmä, meillä on toinen vaihtoehto.
Does the word order change in the second half of the sentence because of the jos clause?
No. Unlike some other European languages, Finnish doesn't usually invert the word order in the main clause after an "if" clause. You just write the main clause normally, which is why it is simply meillä on (we have).
Is the comma after kylmä required, or is it just a stylistic pause?
It is strictly required. In Finnish grammar, a subordinate clause (like the one starting with jos) must always be separated from the main clause by a comma.
I learned that toinen means "second". Why does it translate to "another" here?
The word toinen is used for both! It is the ordinal number for "second", but it is also the standard word for "other" or "another". You have to rely on context to tell which meaning is intended.
What are the parts of the compound word vaihtoehto?
It is made of vaihto (exchange or change) and ehto (condition). As a neat connection to this lesson, ehto is the root word for "conditional" in Finnish, which is exactly the type of sentence a jos clause creates!
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