Breakdown of Rikosta ei ollut selvitetty ennen kesää.
olla
to be
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
kesä
summer
ennen
before
Questions & Answers about Rikosta ei ollut selvitetty ennen kesää.
Why does the negative pluperfect passive use ollut instead of the passive form oltu?
This is a surprising but very important rule! In the negative pluperfect passive, the auxiliary verb olla takes the active past participle form (ollut). Only the main verb takes the passive past participle (selvitetty). Therefore, it is ei ollut selvitetty, never ei oltu selvitetty.
Why is the word for "crime" (rikos) in the partitive case (rikosta)?
In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case. In an affirmative passive sentence, the object would often be in the nominative case (e.g., Rikos oli selvitetty), but the negative rule overrides this.
Why is kesä (summer) in the partitive form kesää here?
The word ennen (before) acts as a preposition in this sentence, and it requires the noun that directly follows it to be in the partitive case.
What is the base verb for selvitetty, and where does it come from?
The base verb is selvittää (to find out, to solve, or to clear up). It is derived from the adjective selvä (clear). To form the passive past participle, the -ttää ending drops the last vowel and adds -etty, giving us selvitetty.