Breakdown of Jos emme valitse tätä vaihtoehtoa, mikä on uusi ratkaisu?
tämä
this
olla
to be
uusi
new
mikä
what
ei
no / not (negative verb)
valita
to choose
jos
if
vaihtoehto
alternative
ratkaisu
solution
Questions & Answers about Jos emme valitse tätä vaihtoehtoa, mikä on uusi ratkaisu?
Does starting with a jos clause change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, unlike some European languages, putting a jos (if) clause first does not flip the verb and subject in the main clause. You simply separate the two clauses with a comma. Since the main clause here is a question, it starts with the question word mikä, but the jos clause didn't force any special word order changes.
Why does the sentence use tätä vaihtoehtoa (the partitive case) instead of the basic form tämä vaihtoehto?
Because the action is negative (emme valitse, we do not choose). In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. tätä is the partitive of tämä (this), and vaihtoehtoa is the partitive of vaihtoehto (alternative).
Why is the verb form just valitse instead of valitsemme?
In negative sentences, the negative verb (emme) does the job of showing who is doing the action (we). Because of this, the main verb drops its personal ending. For the verb valita (to choose), this base negative form is valitse.
Why is the question word mikä used here instead of mitä?
We use mikä (the basic nominative form) because we are asking about a specific, whole thing (the new solution) in a simple sentence with the verb on (is). You would use mitä (the partitive form) with actions that take a partitive object, like asking What are you reading? or What do you want?
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