Breakdown of Hänellä on pätevyys tähän ammattiin.
tämä
this
olla
to be
hän
he / she
ammatti
profession
pätevyys
qualification
Questions & Answers about Hänellä on pätevyys tähän ammattiin.
Why is tähän ammattiin in the illative case?
The noun pätevyys (qualification) is built from the adjective pätevä (qualified). Both the adjective and the noun demand the illative case when stating what someone is qualified for. You are qualified "into" a profession in Finnish.
What is the base word of pätevyys?
It comes from the adjective pätevä (competent, qualified). The -yys ending is a common suffix used to turn an adjective into a noun, much like "-ity" or "-ness" in English.
Why does tämä become tähän here?
In Finnish, demonstrative pronouns like "this" must agree with the case of the noun they point to. Because ammatti is in the illative case (ammattiin), the word tämä must also take the illative form, becoming tähän.
Why does the sentence start with hänellä rather than hän?
This is a quick refresher on the Finnish "to have" construction. Since Finnish lacks a direct verb for "to have", we put the owner in the adessive case (hänellä means "on him/her") followed by the verb on (is). Literally: "On him/her is a qualification."
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