Breakdown of Huolimaton opiskelija teki tehtävän näkemättä vaivaa.
opiskelija
student
tehdä
to do
tehtävä
task
nähdä
to see
huolimaton
careless
vaiva
effort
Questions & Answers about Huolimaton opiskelija teki tehtävän näkemättä vaivaa.
How does näkemättä vaivaa mean "without making an effort" when the verb nähdä usually means "to see"?
The common Finnish expression for "to make an effort" or "to take the trouble" is nähdä vaivaa (literally "to see effort"). The word näkemättä is the third infinitive abessive form of nähdä, meaning "without seeing". Together, näkemättä vaivaa translates naturally to "without making an effort".
How is näkemättä built from the verb nähdä?
To form the -matta/-mättä structure meaning "without doing", you add the ending to the strong vowel stem of the verb. The strong stem of nähdä is näke- (which you also use in forms like hän näkee, meaning "he/she sees"). Because of vowel harmony, you add the front-vowel version -mättä to get näkemättä.
The adjective huolimaton looks a lot like the -matta grammar. Are they related?
Yes! Both endings express a lack of something. While the -matta/-mättä ending attaches to verbs to say how an action is done ("without doing"), the -maton/-mätön ending is used to create adjectives meaning "without [something]". In this sentence, it turns the concept of huoli (care or worry) into the adjective huolimaton (careless).
Why does tehtävän have an -n ending, but vaivaa ends with an -a?
The student finished the entire task, so the object tehtävä takes the accusative case, which looks like the genitive -n ending. On the other hand, vaivaa is an abstract, uncountable concept (effort). Abstract words acting as objects almost always take the partitive case, which is why it gets the -a ending.
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