Breakdown of Lentoemäntä näyttää sekä pelastusliivin että happinaamarin, ennen kuin nousu alkaa.
näyttää
to show
alkaa
to start
että
that (conjunction)
sekä
both
lentoemäntä
flight attendant
ennen kuin
before (conjunction)
nousu
takeoff
happinaamari
oxygen mask
pelastusliivi
life vest
Questions & Answers about Lentoemäntä näyttää sekä pelastusliivin että happinaamarin, ennen kuin nousu alkaa.
Why is there a comma before ennen kuin?
In Finnish, a main clause and a subordinate clause must usually be separated by a comma. Since ennen kuin (before) introduces a subordinate clause, the comma placed right before it is mandatory. This is a strict punctuation rule that differs from English.
Does the word order change in the clause after ennen kuin?
No, it doesn't. Subordinate clauses in Finnish generally follow the standard Subject-Verb word order. Here, the subject nousu (takeoff) simply comes before the verb alkaa (starts), exactly as it would if it were a standalone main sentence.
Why do pelastusliivi and happinaamari end in -n here?
They are the direct objects of the verb näyttää (shows), and they take the genitive-accusative case ending -n. This indicates a total object: the flight attendant is showing the whole life vest and oxygen mask, and the action is viewed as a complete event. If the action were ongoing or incomplete, they would be in the partitive case.
How does the pair sekä ... että work?
This is a fixed correlative conjunction that translates to 'both ... and'. You place sekä right before the first item being listed (pelastusliivin) and että right before the second item (happinaamarin).
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