Breakdown of Sinä voit vaikuttaa politiikkaan joko täällä tai tuolla.
sinä
you
täällä
here
tuolla
over there
tai
or
voida
can, to be able to
joko
either
vaikuttaa
to affect
politiikka
politics
Questions & Answers about Sinä voit vaikuttaa politiikkaan joko täällä tai tuolla.
How do we use joko ... tai in this sentence?
It directly translates to 'either ... or'. You place joko before the first option and tai before the second. Here, they connect the two location words täällä and tuolla. They are fixed words, meaning they never change their endings.
Why is the word for politics in the illative form politiikkaan?
The verb vaikuttaa (to influence, to affect) requires the target to be in the illative case (the 'into' case). While in English you influence something directly, in Finnish you logically influence 'into' it. So politiikka takes the ending -an to become politiikkaan.
Why does the sentence use täällä and tuolla instead of tässä and tuossa for 'here' and 'there'?
Täällä and tuolla refer to larger, general areas (like a city or society in general). Tässä and tuossa are used for specific, confined spots (like right here on this spot). Since influencing politics happens on a broader scale, the wider location words are the natural choice.
Could I drop the word sinä and just start with voit vaikuttaa?
Yes, absolutely. Because the verb voit has the -t ending, it already means 'you can'. Including sinä is optional in Finnish and is usually done just to add a bit of emphasis, like saying 'You can influence...' rather than just 'You can influence...'.
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