Breakdown of En pidä tätä päätöstä mahdollisena.
tämä
this
ei
no / not (negative verb)
päätös
decision
pitää
to consider (as)
Questions & Answers about En pidä tätä päätöstä mahdollisena.
Why is the word mahdollisena in the essive case instead of just being a basic adjective?
When using the verb pitää to mean "to consider", the adjective that describes your opinion must be in the essive case, which ends in -na or -nä. That is why mahdollinen (possible) becomes mahdollisena.
Is tätä päätöstä in the partitive case because the sentence is negative (en pidä)?
Actually, no! While negative sentences do usually require a partitive object, this specific sentence structure requires it anyway. When pitää means "to consider", the object it refers to is always in the partitive case, even in a positive sentence like Pidän tätä päätöstä mahdollisena.
Doesn't the verb pitää usually mean "to like" or "to have to"? How do I know it means "to consider" here?
You can tell by the grammar cases surrounding it! If it meant "to like", it would require the elative case (ending in -sta/-stä). The specific combination you see here, a partitive object (tätä päätöstä) followed by an essive adjective (mahdollisena), is the exact formula for expressing "to consider [something] as [something]".
The current lesson also talks about the translative case. Could I say mahdolliseksi instead of mahdollisena?