Word
Minun pitää luopua turhasta tavarasta.
Meaning
I have to give up unnecessary stuff.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Minun pitää luopua turhasta tavarasta.
minä
I
tavara
the item
pitää
must / have to
luopua
to give up (relinquish a habit, right, or idea)
Questions & Answers about Minun pitää luopua turhasta tavarasta.
Why is 'I' translated as minun instead of minä?
This sentence uses a necessive structure with the verb pitää (to have to). In Finnish, the person who has to do something takes the genitive case, so minä becomes minun. In this structure, the verb pitää also always stays in the third-person singular form.
Why are turha and tavara in the elative case (-sta)?
The verb luopua (to give up or relinquish) requires the word connected to it to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Because adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe, both the adjective turha and the noun tavara take the -sta ending.
Since we are learning the abessive case (-tta/-ttä) for 'without', could I use it here to express being without stuff?
No, because the verb luopua strictly dictates that its object must be in the elative case. If you wanted to use the abessive to express a similar lifestyle idea, you would need a different verb. For example, you could say Minun pitää elää tavaratta (I have to live without stuff).
Why is tavarasta in the singular here? Shouldn't it be plural if I have a lot of stuff?