Breakdown of Hän yritti läpäistä kurssin valmistautumatta.
hän
he / she
kurssi
course
yrittää
to try
läpäistä
to pass
valmistautua
to prepare (oneself)
Questions & Answers about Hän yritti läpäistä kurssin valmistautumatta.
How does valmistautumatta mean "without preparing"?
It is formed from the verb valmistautua (to prepare oneself). The ending -matta is the third infinitive abessive, which translates to "without doing". You build it by taking the strong stem of the verb (valmistautu-) and adding -ma- followed by the "without" ending -tta.
Why does kurssin end in -n instead of being kurssi or kurssia?
Kurssin is the object of the verb läpäistä (to pass). Because the sentence has a clear subject (hän) and passing a course is viewed as a complete action, the total object takes the accusative -n ending. If the action were incomplete or ongoing, you would use the partitive form kurssia.
What type of verb is läpäistä (to pass)?
It is a verb type 4, specifically ending in -stä. Type 4 verbs can be a bit tricky because their stem changes to add -se- before personal endings. For example, "I pass" is läpäisen and "he passes" is läpäisee. Here, it stays in its basic infinitive form because it follows yritti (tried).
Could I just use the word ilman (without) to say "without preparing"?
Not with a verb. In Finnish, if you want to say "without doing [an action]", you must use this -matta or -mättä verb ending. The preposition ilman is only used with nouns, for example ilman kirjaa (without a book).
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