Breakdown of Opettaja, joka antoi minulle kirjan, oli kiltti.
olla
to be
kirja
book
minä
I
opettaja
teacher
antaa
to give
joka
who / which (relative pronoun)
kiltti
kind
Questions & Answers about Opettaja, joka antoi minulle kirjan, oli kiltti.
Why does the sentence use joka for 'who' instead of kuka?
In Finnish, kuka is a question word used to ask 'who?'. When you are connecting sentences to say 'the teacher who...', you must use the relative pronoun joka. Here it is in the nominative singular form because it refers back to a single teacher (opettaja).
Why are there commas around joka antoi minulle kirjan?
Finnish grammar is very strict about punctuation with relative clauses. Any clause starting with joka must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The main sentence is Opettaja oli kiltti (The teacher was kind), and the commas neatly frame the extra information placed in the middle.
Why does the word for book have an -n ending (kirjan)?
The book is the object of the verb antoi (gave). Because the action is complete and the teacher gave a whole, specific book, the object takes the -n ending to show this.
Why is it minulle instead of another form of 'me'?
The verb antaa (to give) directs an action toward someone. To express 'to' someone, Finnish uses the allative case, which ends in -lle. Therefore, the basic pronoun minä (I) becomes minulle (to me).
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