Word
Heidän olisi pitänyt lähettää varoitus ennen tulvaa.
Meaning
They should have sent a warning before the flood.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Heidän olisi pitänyt lähettää varoitus ennen tulvaa.
olla
to be
he
they
lähettää
to send
ennen
before
Questions & Answers about Heidän olisi pitänyt lähettää varoitus ennen tulvaa.
How does olisi pitänyt literally translate, and why do we use it for 'should have'?
Olisi pitänyt is the conditional perfect form of the obligation verb pitää. Literally, it translates to 'it would have been necessary'. Finnish doesn't have a separate verb for 'should', so expressing that an action 'would have been necessary' is the standard way to say 'should have'.
Why is the word for 'they' in the genitive case (heidän) here?
Sentences that express obligation or necessity use a special structure where the person who has to do the action is put in the genitive case. Because the main verb structure is based on pitää (to have to), the subject he (they) becomes heidän.
Why is the object varoitus (warning) in its basic dictionary form instead of taking an -n ending?
Normally, a total object takes the genitive-like ending -n. However, there is a special rule for necessity sentences: when the main verb expresses obligation (like pitää or täytyy), the total object is always left in the basic nominative form.
Why does tulva (flood) become tulvaa at the end of the sentence?
The word ennen (before) is a preposition that always requires the noun following it to be in the partitive case. Therefore, the basic word tulva takes the partitive ending -a to become tulvaa.