Breakdown of Jos tunnelma on huono, myyjä ei palvele sinua hyvin.
olla
to be
sinä
you
huono
bad
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
hyvin
well
jos
if
myyjä
the salesperson
tunnelma
atmosphere
palvella
to serve
Questions & Answers about Jos tunnelma on huono, myyjä ei palvele sinua hyvin.
Why is it sinua (partitive) and not sinut?
The verb palvella (to serve) is a partitive verb. This means its object must always be in the partitive case, regardless of whether the sentence is positive or negative. That is why we use sinua here.
What is the dictionary form of palvele, and how do we get this negative form?
The dictionary form is palvella (to serve), which is a type 3 verb. To find the present negative form, you take the 'I' form (minä palvelen) and drop the -n. This gives us the negative stem palvele, used here with ei.
Is hyvin related to the adjective hyvä?
Yes! Hyvä means 'good', and hyvin is the adverb 'well'. While many Finnish adverbs are formed by adding -sti to the adjective stem (like huonosti for 'badly'), hyvin is an irregular, extremely common exception you just have to memorize.
Does the word order change in the second half of the sentence because of Jos?
No, it stays exactly the same! Unlike some other European languages, Finnish does not flip the subject and verb after an 'if' clause. The second part follows normal word order: subject (myyjä) followed by the verb (ei palvele).
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