Learn Finnish: Et ollut vielä menettänyt mahdollisuutta. - You had not yet lost the opportunity.

The negative pluperfect is formed with three parts: the negative verb matched to the subject (et for "you"), the active past participle of the helper verb olla (ollut), and finally the active past participle of the main verb menettää (menettänyt). Think of it as "You did-not been lost."

Why is the word vielä placed in the middle of the verbs?

In Finnish compound tenses (like the perfect and pluperfect), it's standard to put short adverbs like vielä (yet/still), jo (already), or aina (always) immediately after the auxiliary verbs (et ollut) and right before the main verb (menettänyt).

Why is the object "mahdollisuus" in the partitive case (mahdollisuutta)?

Because the sentence is negative. In Finnish, if a transitive action is negative (meaning the action didn't happen), the object of that action must be in the partitive case. The negative verb et triggers this rule, turning mahdollisuus into mahdollisuutta.

How do you form the partitive of a word ending in "-uus" like mahdollisuus?

For nouns ending in -uus or -yys (which often describe qualities or states), you form the partitive by replacing the final -s with -tta or -ttä. Therefore, mahdollisuus becomes mahdollisuutta.