Word
Sekä kuumuus että pimeys ovat tuskallisia.
Meaning
Both the heat and the darkness are agonizing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Sekä kuumuus että pimeys ovat tuskallisia.
olla
to be
että
that (conjunction)
sekä
both
pimeys
darkness
Questions & Answers about Sekä kuumuus että pimeys ovat tuskallisia.
What does the sekä ... että structure mean here?
This is a common pair of conjunctions that translates directly to "both ... and ...". You put the first thing being linked right after sekä and the second after että.
Why is the verb ovat in the plural when kuumuus and pimeys are both singular words?
Because they are linked by sekä ... että (both ... and), the two singular nouns combine to form a plural subject. As a result, the verb must take the plural form ovat.
Why is the adjective tuskallisia in the plural partitive case instead of the plural nominative (tuskalliset)?
When making a general statement about a plural subject (especially one made of uncountable or abstract concepts like heat and darkness), the describing adjective is put into the plural partitive case. If you used the plural nominative, it would sound like you were talking about specific, countable instances of heat and darkness.
How are the nouns kuumuus and pimeys formed?
They are built by adding the suffix -uus or -yys to their root adjectives. The adjective kuuma (hot) becomes kuumuus (heat), and pimeä (dark) becomes pimeys (darkness). This works exactly like adding "-ness" to an adjective in English.