Breakdown of Jos olet hiljaa, voit nähdä hiipivän suden.
olla
to be
nähdä
to see
hiljaa
quietly
voida
can, to be able to
jos
if
hiipiä
to sneak
susi
wolf
Questions & Answers about Jos olet hiljaa, voit nähdä hiipivän suden.
How is the active present participle "hiipivän" formed from the verb "hiipiä"?
You take the strong vowel stem of the verb, which is hiipi-, and add the active present participle ending -vä, giving you hiipivä (sneaking). Because participles act like adjectives, it can then take case endings, which is why it has the -n here.
Why do both "hiipivän" and "suden" end in "-n" here?
They make up the total object of the sentence. When you see a whole, complete thing (the sneaking wolf), the singular object takes the accusative case, which looks exactly like the genitive -n. Because participles agree with the noun they modify, just like adjectives, hiipivä must match suden, so both take the -n ending.
Why does this sentence use "hiljaa" instead of the adjective "hiljainen" for "quiet"?
Hiljaa is an adverb meaning "silently" or "without making noise." If you used the adjective hiljainen (olet hiljainen), it would mean you are generally a quiet person by nature. The sentence is about being quiet right now in this specific moment, so the adverb is used.
What happens to the word "susi" (wolf) to make it "suden"?
Susi belongs to a group of old Finnish words ending in -si. When you add an ending like the -n object marker, the -si turns into -te-. Then, because a single t weakens to d under consonant gradation when the syllable is closed by the -n, the stem sute- becomes suden.
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