Breakdown of Keisari olisi välttänyt vallankumouksen.
olla
to be
keisari
emperor
välttää
to avoid
vallankumous
revolution
Questions & Answers about Keisari olisi välttänyt vallankumouksen.
How do we form the conditional perfect "would have avoided" in this sentence?
The conditional perfect is built using the conditional form of the verb olla (to be) plus the past active participle (the -nut/-nyt form) of the main verb. Here, we use olisi (would be/have) and välttänyt (avoided). Notice that Finnish uses olla as the helper verb, unlike English which uses "to have".
Why does vallankumouksen end in -n?
It is the total object of the sentence. Because the action of avoiding the revolution is framed as a complete, successfully finished event, we use the genitive accusative ending -n. If the sentence implied an ongoing or incomplete attempt to avoid it, it would be in the partitive case (vallankumousta).
Vallankumous is a long word for "revolution". How is it constructed?
It is a compound word made of two parts: vallan (the genitive form of valta, meaning "power") and kumous (meaning "overturn" or "upheaval"). So a revolution in Finnish is literally an "overturn of power".
Why does välttänyt keep the strong double -tt- from its infinitive välttää?
When forming the active past participle (the -nut/-nyt form), you use the strong grade of the verb's stem. Therefore, the double consonant -tt- from välttää doesn't weaken to a single -t-; it remains strong in välttänyt.
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