Breakdown of Lentäjän piti kiinnittää turvavyö, ennen kuin nousu alkoi.
alkaa
to start
pitää
must / have to
lentäjä
pilot
turvavyö
seatbelt
Questions & Answers about Lentäjän piti kiinnittää turvavyö, ennen kuin nousu alkoi.
Why is there a comma before ennen kuin? We don't use one in English here.
In Finnish, you must use a comma to separate a main clause from a subordinate clause. Because ennen kuin nousu alkoi has its own subject and conjugated verb (alkoi), it is a full clause, making the comma mandatory.
Could I just say ennen nousu alkoi instead of using ennen kuin?
No, when before introduces an entire clause with a conjugated verb, you must use the two-word conjunction ennen kuin. You can only use ennen by itself when it acts as a preposition before a noun, like in ennen nousua (before the takeoff).
Why is the pilot (lentäjä) in the genitive form (lentäjän)?
This is a necessity sentence. It uses the verb pitää in the past tense (piti) to mean had to. In Finnish necessity structures, the person who has to do something is always put in the genitive case.
If turvavyö (seatbelt) is the object being fastened, why doesn't it have the -n ending?
This is a special rule tied to the necessity structure. When the main verb is a necessity verb like piti or täytyy, a complete object drops its normal -n ending and stays in its basic dictionary form.