Breakdown of Selitit sekä onnettomuuden että yksityiskohdat omin sanoin.
sana
word
että
that (conjunction)
selittää
to explain
oma
own
sekä
both
onnettomuus
accident (serious accident, disaster)
yksityiskohta
detail
Questions & Answers about Selitit sekä onnettomuuden että yksityiskohdat omin sanoin.
What does the -in ending do in the phrase omin sanoin?
This is the instructive plural case. It tells us how or by what means an action was done. Here, omin sanoin translates to "in one's own words" (literally: "by means of own words"). The instructive case is almost always used in the plural.
Why do both words in omin sanoin have the -in ending?
In Finnish, adjectives must agree in case and number with the noun they describe. Because sana (word) is put into the instructive plural form (sanoin), the adjective oma (own) must also take the instructive plural form (omin).
How does the phrase sekä ... että work here?
Sekä [A] että [B] is a fixed conjunction pair that means "both [A] and [B]". In this sentence, it neatly connects the two things you explained: sekä onnettomuuden että yksityiskohdat (both the accident and the details).
Why do the two objects, onnettomuuden and yksityiskohdat, have different types of case endings?
They are both total objects of the verb selitit (you explained), but they follow different rules because one is singular and the other is plural. The singular object (onnettomuus) takes the -n ending (often called the genitive-accusative). However, plural total objects always take the regular nominative plural -t ending (yksityiskohdat).
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