Word
Hän työskentelee enemmän kuin minä.
Meaning
He works more than I do.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hän työskentelee enemmän kuin minä.
minä
I
hän
he / she
työskennellä
to work
kuin
than / like / as (also in "before …")
Questions & Answers about Hän työskentelee enemmän kuin minä.
The lesson is about the comparative suffix '-mmin', so why does enemmän end in '-mmän'?
Enemmän (more) is an irregular comparative adverb. While most adverbs form their comparative with -mmin (for example, helposti becomes helpommin), the word paljon (a lot) irregularly becomes enemmän. It is a very common exception you just have to memorize.
Why does the verb työskennellä change to työskentelee here?
Työskennellä is a Type 3 verb. When conjugating it, the weak consonant cluster -nn- undergoes reverse consonant gradation and becomes the strong -nt-. Then, for the 'he/she' form, the final vowel of the stem doubles, giving us työskentelee.
Can I express 'more than I do' without using the word kuin?
Yes! You can drop the word kuin and put the word for 'I' into the partitive case (minua). This is called the partitive of comparison. The sentence would become Hän työskentelee enemmän minua. Both ways are totally correct, but using kuin is often easier for A2 learners to remember.
The English translation says 'than I do'. Why doesn't the Finnish sentence have a word for 'do'?
In Finnish, you do not need a helper verb like 'do' at the end of a comparison. After kuin (than), you simply put the pronoun minä (I) all by itself. Adding a literal translation for 'do' here would sound very unnatural.