Breakdown of Koska en ymmärrä murretta, hän kääntää sen englanniksi.
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
hän
he / she
koska
because
ei
no / not (negative verb)
ymmärtää
to understand
englanti
English (the language)
kääntää
to translate
murre
dialect
Questions & Answers about Koska en ymmärrä murretta, hän kääntää sen englanniksi.
Why is englanti written as englanniksi here?
The translative case ending -ksi is typically used for a change of state, but it is also the standard way to express the language something is spoken, written, or translated into. Here, englanniksi translates to 'into English' or 'in English'.
Why is the word for dialect in the partitive case (murretta)?
The first clause is a negative sentence (en ymmärrä). In Finnish, the object of a negative action must always be in the partitive case. If the sentence were affirmative ('I understand the dialect'), the object would take the genitive form: ymmärrän murteen.
Why does the second clause use sen instead of the partitive sitä?
Unlike the first clause, the second clause is affirmative (hän kääntää). Because the person is translating that specific thing in its entirety, it requires a total object. For the pronoun se, the total object form looks exactly like the genitive: sen.
Why does the verb ymmärtää (to understand) become ymmärrä?
Negative present tense verbs are formed using the weak stem of the verb. The consonant cluster rt in the basic form ymmärtää undergoes consonant gradation, softening to rr to create the weak stem ymmärrä- used after en.
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