Questions & Answers about Hyvyys voittaa aina pahuuden.
How do the adjectives hyvä and paha turn into hyvyys and pahuuden in this sentence?
They use the suffix -uus or -yys to create abstract nouns from adjectives. Hyvä (good) takes -yys due to front vowel harmony, becoming hyvyys (goodness). Paha (bad) takes -uus, becoming the base word pahuus (evil).
Why is the word for evil spelled pahuuden here instead of just pahuus?
It is in the genitive case because it is the direct object of the sentence. Nouns ending in -uus have a word stem that ends in -uute-. When you add the genitive ending -n, the t weakens to d because of consonant gradation, resulting in pahuuden.
Why does voittaa take a genitive object (pahuuden) instead of a partitive one?
The genitive object is used here because the action is seen as a complete, decisive victory. Hyvyys doesn't just fight or partially defeat evil; it overcomes it entirely. If the action were ongoing or incomplete, you would use the partitive case.
Does the verb voittaa mean 'to win' or 'to defeat'?
It means both! In Finnish, you use the exact same verb whether you are winning a game or defeating an opponent.