Breakdown of Pörssi taitaa nousta tänään.
tänään
today
nousta
to get up / to rise, to go up
taitaa
to seem to, probably (does)
pörssi
the stock market
Questions & Answers about Pörssi taitaa nousta tänään.
Why does taitaa translate to "will probably" instead of its usual meaning "knows how to"?
While taitaa can mean "to have a skill" (like in taidan suomea, "I know some Finnish"), it is very commonly used as a modal verb to express likelihood or probability. When used this way, it means "it seems that" or "is likely to." So, Pörssi taitaa nousta translates smoothly to "The stock market will probably rise."
Why is nousta in its basic dictionary form (1st infinitive)?
Because taitaa acts as a modal verb here. Just like the modal verbs you learned earlier (such as voida or haluta), taitaa requires the action verb that directly follows it to be in the 1st infinitive. You conjugate taitaa to match the subject, and leave nousta in its basic form.
There is no future tense verb here. How do we know it means "will rise"?
Finnish does not have a dedicated future tense. You use the present tense for future events. The context word tänään (today) combined with the predictive nature of taitaa makes it perfectly clear that we are talking about what will happen later today.
Could I use mahtaa in this sentence instead of taitaa?
You could, but it would change the tone. While taitaa makes a fairly confident assumption ("probably will"), mahtaa carries a stronger sense of wondering or doubting. If you said Pörssi mahtaa nousta tänään, it would mean something closer to "I wonder if the stock market will rise today."
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