Breakdown of Paketin lähettäjä oli joku tuntematon. Se oli iso arvoitus.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
iso
big
paketti
the package
joku
somebody, someone
lähettäjä
sender
tuntematon
unknown
arvoitus
mystery
Questions & Answers about Paketin lähettäjä oli joku tuntematon. Se oli iso arvoitus.
Why do we use joku here instead of jokin?
The pronoun joku refers to people, meaning someone or somebody. The pronoun jokin refers to things, meaning something. Since the sender of a package is a person, we use joku.
What case is joku in here, and why doesn't it have a case ending?
It is in the basic nominative case. In this sentence, joku tuntematon is the subject complement, meaning it simply describes who the sender was. When making a basic A is B statement like this, both parts stay in the nominative case.
Where does the word tuntematon (unknown) come from?
It is built from the verb tuntea (to know or to recognize). The ending -maton is a negative suffix that means without or -un. So, tuntematon literally translates to unknown or unrecognized.
Why does the sentence start with Paketin instead of just Paketti?
The -n at the end of Paketin is the genitive case ending, which shows belonging or connection. It is used here to mean of the, making Paketin lähettäjä translate to the sender of the package.
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