Breakdown of Jos sataa paljon, tarvitsemme ison salin ja hyvän vaihtoehdon.
ja
and
iso
big
hyvä
good
paljon
a lot
sataa
to rain
tarvita
to need
jos
if
sali
hall
vaihtoehto
alternative
Questions & Answers about Jos sataa paljon, tarvitsemme ison salin ja hyvän vaihtoehdon.
Why is there no word for "it" before sataa?
In Finnish, weather verbs like sataa (to rain) stand alone. You don't use a dummy pronoun like "it" (se) to start the sentence. You just say sataa (rains).
How do the verb tenses work in this jos sentence?
Both verbs (sataa and tarvitsemme) are in the basic present tense. When talking about a real condition and its likely result, Finnish just uses the present tense in both halves of the sentence: "If it rains, we need...". There is no future tense word like "will" to add.
Why do the words for "big hall" and "good alternative" end in -n?
They are the direct objects of the verb tarvitsemme (we need). Because we need whole, count things (a whole hall and one complete alternative), they take the -n accusative ending. Notice how the adjectives must also match their nouns, becoming ison and hyvän!
Why does the t in vaihtoehto change to a d in vaihtoehdon?
Adding the -n ending closes the final syllable, which triggers consonant gradation. In the word vaihtoehto (alternative), the consonant pair -ht- changes to its weak grade -hd-, giving us vaihtoehdon.
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