Breakdown of Päästöt ovat korkeat, mutta niitä ei ole vähennetty.
olla
to be
mutta
but
ne
they / those (non-human) / they (of people)
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
korkea
high, tall
päästö
emission
vähentää
to reduce
Questions & Answers about Päästöt ovat korkeat, mutta niitä ei ole vähennetty.
How does the negative perfect passive work in ei ole vähennetty?
It is formed by combining ei ole with the passive past participle of the main verb, which in this case is vähennetty (from vähentää, to reduce). In the passive, the auxiliary (helping) verb part never changes—it is always exactly ei ole, no matter what is being discussed.
Why is the pronoun niitä in the partitive case here?
In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case. Because ne (they, referring to the things being reduced, päästöt) is the object of the negative action ei ole vähennetty, it must change to its partitive plural form, niitä.
Why is there a -t at the end of korkeat?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe in both number and case. Because the subject päästöt (emissions) is in the nominative plural (ending in -t), the adjective korkea (high) must also take the nominative plural ending to become korkeat.
What kind of verb is vähentää (the root of vähennetty)?
It is a transitive verb meaning "to reduce" or "to decrease" something. At this level, it is helpful to recognize that it belongs to the same word family as vähemmän (less) and vähä (little). You use vähentää when someone is actively reducing something, which is why it works perfectly in the passive here.
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