Breakdown of Hänen täytyy ottaa vastuu ja pärjätä.
hän
he / she
ja
and
ottaa
to take
täytyä
to have to
pärjätä
to manage
vastuu
responsibility
Questions & Answers about Hänen täytyy ottaa vastuu ja pärjätä.
Why does the sentence start with Hänen instead of Hän?
In Finnish, sentences expressing necessity work a bit differently. The verb täytyy (has to / must) requires the person who has to do something to be in the genitive case, which is why we use Hänen instead of the basic Hän.
Why is the object vastuu (responsibility) in its basic form, rather than vastuun?
Normally, a complete object takes an -n ending. But there is a special rule for necessity verbs like täytyy: their objects drop the -n ending and look just like the basic dictionary form.
Why are the verbs ottaa and pärjätä not conjugated to match the subject?
Because they are governed by the necessity verb täytyy. In a sentence with täytyy, the action verbs that follow it always stay in their basic dictionary form (the first infinitive).
How would you say he has to take responsibility 'for himself' using the grammar from this lesson?
You would add itsestään after the word vastuu. This is the reflexive pronoun itse (self) in the elative case (-stä, meaning from or about), followed by the third-person possessive suffix -än (his).
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