Word
Ensimmäisen kirjan julkaisi pieni kustantamo.
Meaning
The first book was published by a small publishing house.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ensimmäisen kirjan julkaisi pieni kustantamo.
kirja
book
pieni
small
ensimmäinen
first
julkaista
to publish
Questions & Answers about Ensimmäisen kirjan julkaisi pieni kustantamo.
Why does this sentence use the active verb julkaisi when the English translation uses the passive 'was published'?
Finnish often avoids the passive voice when the exact doer of the action is known. Instead of a passive structure, Finnish uses the active verb julkaisi and moves the object ensimmäisen kirjan to the front of the sentence. This Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) order achieves the same focus as the English passive, keeping the book as the main topic.
Why is ensimmäisen kirjan in the genitive case?
It is the total direct object of an affirmative sentence. In the singular, this object takes the accusative case, which looks identical to the genitive with its -n ending. Because Finnish word order is flexible, this -n ending is crucial in an OVS sentence: it tells us immediately that the book is the thing being acted upon, not the thing doing the publishing.
Why is the subject pieni kustantamo at the very end of the sentence?
Placing the subject at the end of an OVS sentence usually introduces it as new information. The sentence starts with what we already know or want to focus on (the first book), and ends with the new detail we are revealing (it was a small publishing house that did it).
How does the word kustantamo relate to the verb kustantaa?