Breakdown of Viaton ihminen ei saa rangaistusta.
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
ihminen
human
saada
to get
rangaistus
punishment
Questions & Answers about Viaton ihminen ei saa rangaistusta.
Why is rangaistusta in the partitive case here?
Because the sentence is negative (ei saa). In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case. Even though a punishment is a distinct, countable thing, the negative verb overrides the normal object rules.
How is the word viaton (innocent) formed?
It comes from the noun vika, which means "fault" or "flaw". The suffix -ton means "without" (similar to the English suffix "-less"). Because of consonant gradation, the "k" in vika disappears in the stem, resulting in viaton (literally "faultless").
Is rangaistusta related to the verb for "to punish"?
Yes! The base noun is rangaistus (punishment). It is formed from the verb rangaista (to punish) by adding the suffix -us, which turns verbs into nouns. Here it is in the partitive case because it is the object of a negative sentence.
If I wanted to expand this sentence using sillä (for / because), would it change the word order?
No, it wouldn't. Sillä is a coordinating conjunction, meaning it simply links two main clauses together without forcing any special word order in either clause. You could add a reason naturally, such as: Viaton ihminen ei saa rangaistusta, sillä hän on syytön (An innocent person does not get a punishment, for they are guiltless).