Breakdown of Jos uusi aikataulu ei sovi, puhuja lähtee aikaisin.
uusi
new
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
lähteä
to leave
aikaisin
early
Questions & Answers about Jos uusi aikataulu ei sovi, puhuja lähtee aikaisin.
Does the word order in the main clause change because of the jos (if) clause?
No, it stays exactly the same. Unlike some other European languages, Finnish doesn't flip the subject and verb after a conditional clause. The main clause puhuja lähtee aikaisin keeps its normal subject-verb word order, just as if it were standing alone.
The translation says "will leave", but isn't lähtee in the present tense?
Yes, lähtee is the present tense of lähteä (to leave). Finnish doesn't have a separate future tense. We simply use the present tense, and the context of the jos (if) condition makes it clear that the action will happen in the future.
Why is the negative verb form ei sovi instead of ei sopii?
To make a negative sentence, you use the negative word ei and drop the personal ending from the verb. For sopia (to suit), this also triggers consonant gradation. The strong p from the positive form sopii weakens to a v in the negative stem, resulting in ei sovi.
Is the word aikaisin (early) related to the word aika (time)?
Yes! Aika means time, and aikaisin is the adverb form meaning early. You will frequently see Finnish build descriptive adverbs by adding suffixes to basic noun roots like this.