Breakdown of Opettaja pitää sääntöä reiluna.
opettaja
teacher
sääntö
rule
pitää
to consider (as)
reilu
fair (just)
Questions & Answers about Opettaja pitää sääntöä reiluna.
Why are the words sääntöä and reiluna in the partitive and essive cases here?
This is a fixed structure for the verb pitää when it means "to consider [something] as [something]". The thing being considered must be in the partitive case (sääntöä), and the descriptive word must be in the essive case (reiluna).
I originally learned that pitää means "to like" or "must". How do I know it means "considers" in this sentence?
The grammar cases give it away! If it meant "to like", it would take the elative case (pitää säännöstä). If it meant "must", it would be followed by a verb. The partitive plus essive combo (pitää sääntöä reiluna) specifically locks in the meaning of holding an opinion or considering something to be a certain way.
The lesson mentions both the essive and translative cases for opinions. Could I use the translative form reiluksi instead of reiluna here?
Not with the verb pitää. When expressing an opinion with pitää, you always use the essive case. The translative case (reiluksi) would be used if you swapped the verb to luulla (to suppose/think), as in Opettaja luulee sääntöä reiluksi.
What is the base form of reiluna?
The base form is the adjective reilu, which means "fair" or "generous". The essive ending -na is added directly to it to mean "as fair".