Breakdown of Imperiumi olisi hyökännyt tasavaltaan.
olla
to be
hyökätä
to attack
tasavalta
republic
imperiumi
empire
Questions & Answers about Imperiumi olisi hyökännyt tasavaltaan.
How do we form the 'would have attacked' structure in olisi hyökännyt?
The conditional perfect is formed using the conditional of the helping verb olla (here, olisi for the third-person singular) plus the past active participle of the main verb (the NUT participle, here hyökännyt). It expresses an action that would have happened in the past, but did not.
Why is tasavalta (republic) in the illative case (tasavaltaan)?
The verb hyökätä (to attack) is a verb that governs the illative case (the 'into' case). While in English you simply attack a place, in Finnish you grammatically attack into a place. Therefore, tasavalta takes the illative ending -an.
What is the infinitive of hyökännyt, and why doesn't it have a double kk?
The infinitive is hyökätä (a type 4 verb). Type 4 verbs undergo reverse consonant gradation, meaning their infinitive and past participle forms use the weak grade (a single k in hyökännyt). When conjugated in basic personal forms, they switch to the strong grade, as in imperiumi hyökkää (the empire attacks).
Is tasavalta a compound word?
Yes, it is built from the words tasa (even, equal, or flat) and valta (power or authority). Together, an 'equal power' translates to a republic.
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