Breakdown of Jos voittaisin lotossa, olisin rikas.
olla
to be
jos
if
voittaa
to win
lotto
the lottery
rikas
rich
Questions & Answers about Jos voittaisin lotossa, olisin rikas.
Why does the Finnish sentence use the conditional in both halves ("voittaisin" and "olisin"), when English says "If I won... I would be"?
In English, the "if" half of the sentence usually takes the past tense ("If I won"). However, in Finnish, both parts of a conditional "if" sentence must use the conditional marker -isi-. Literally, the Finnish sentence is saying "If I would win, I would be rich."
How is the conditional marker added to the verb "voittaa" to get "voittaisin"?
For a type 1 verb like voittaa (to win), you start with the stem voitta-. When adding the conditional marker -isi-, you drop the final -a so you don't end up with a clumsy string of vowels. Then add the personal ending -n for "I". This gives us voitt- + -isi- + -n = voittaisin.
Why is "lotossa" in the inessive (-ssa) case, meaning "in the lottery"?
In Finnish, you win "in" a game or a lottery, rather than just winning the thing itself. So you use the inessive case -ssa (in) attached to the word lotto to make lotossa.
Why are there no words for "I" (minä) in this sentence?
In Finnish, first and second person pronouns like minä (I) are often dropped. The verb endings -n in voittaisin and olisin already make it completely clear who is doing the action.
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