Breakdown of Todistaja joi vettä ja kuvaili tapausta suurin piirtein.
ja
and
juoda
to drink
vesi
water
tapaus
case
kuvailla
to describe
suuri
large, great
todistaja
witness
piirre
feature (trait, characteristic)
Questions & Answers about Todistaja joi vettä ja kuvaili tapausta suurin piirtein.
How does the phrase suurin piirtein use the instructive case?
Suurin piirtein translates to 'roughly' or 'approximately', but literally means 'with big features' or 'in broad strokes'. It is a very common fixed phrase made of two words in the instructive plural: suuri (big) becomes suurin, and piirre (feature or outline) becomes piirtein.
Why does the instructive form of suuri look exactly like the word for 'biggest'?
It is a coincidence of Finnish grammar! The instructive case always ends in -in and is attached to the plural stem. The plural stem of suuri is suuri-, giving us suurin. This looks identical to the superlative form (the biggest), but the context and the accompanying instructive word piirtein tell you it is the instructive case here.
Why is tapausta (the incident) in the partitive case?
The verb kuvailla (to describe) typically takes a partitive object. In Finnish, describing something is viewed as an ongoing or open-ended process, rather than an action that brings the object to a completed end state.
What is the difference between kuvata and kuvailla?
Kuvailla is a continuous variation of the verb kuvata (to picture, portray, or film). The -illa ending makes it a descriptive action, translating specifically to describing with words. At this level, you will often see this ending added to verbs to show that an action is continuous, casual, or repeated.
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