Word
Tiede tutkii yhteiskunnallisia asioita.
Meaning
Science studies societal matters.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Tiede tutkii yhteiskunnallisia asioita.
asia
thing, matter
tutkia
to explore / to investigate / examine
tiede
science
yhteiskunnallinen
societal
Questions & Answers about Tiede tutkii yhteiskunnallisia asioita.
How is the adjective yhteiskunnallinen built from the noun for "society"?
The noun for society is yhteiskunta. To add the -llinen suffix to a noun, you first find its genitive stem. The genitive of yhteiskunta is yhteiskunnan. You drop the final -n and attach -llinen, resulting in yhteiskunnallinen (societal).
Why does the adjective take the form yhteiskunnallisia in this sentence?
The adjective must match the noun it describes, which is asioita (matters) in the partitive plural. Adjectives ending in -llinen follow a very regular pattern: their partitive plural form always ends in -llisia.
Why is the object of the sentence in the partitive plural (yhteiskunnallisia asioita)?
The verb tutkia (to study or research) typically requires a partitive object when the action is ongoing or deals with an undefined quantity. Since science studies an open-ended number of societal matters, both the adjective and noun are put into the partitive plural.
The base noun yhteiskunta is quite long. Is it a compound word?
Yes! It combines yhteis- (a prefix meaning common or joint, related to yhteinen) and kunta (community, municipality, or group). Together, they literally mean a "common community," which translates to "society".