Breakdown of Hissi toimi vain yhden sekunnin.
yksi
one
vain
only
hissi
elevator
toimia
to function, to work / to act
Questions & Answers about Hissi toimi vain yhden sekunnin.
Why is yhden sekunnin in the genitive case rather than nominative or partitive?
It is actually in the accusative case, which looks identical to the genitive because of the -n ending. In Finnish, when you express a specific, completed duration of time (like for one second), it follows the exact same case rules as a total object. Since the sentence is affirmative and has a regular subject (hissi), the time duration takes the -n ending.
Would the case change if the sentence were negative, like the elevator didn't work for one second?
Yes! Just like normal direct objects, time durations switch to the partitive case in a negative sentence. If it didn't work for a second, it would become: Hissi ei toiminut yhtä sekuntia.
Toimia means to work or function, but it doesn't take an object. How can it have an accusative object here?
Toimia is indeed an intransitive verb, meaning it cannot take a regular direct object. However, the accusative of time rule applies to any verb when you want to say how long the action lasted. The phrase yhden sekunnin isn't the direct object of the verb; it is a time expression that simply borrows the object case rules.
What if the elevator worked for two seconds? Would the duration be kahden sekunnin?
No, it would be kaksi sekuntia. When using numbers greater than one, the number itself takes the accusative form (which looks exactly like the basic nominative for numbers, like kaksi) and the word for second goes into the partitive singular (sekuntia), just as it does in any other situation.