Breakdown of Se kysyis vahtimestarilta, jos se ois täällä.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
täällä
here
kysyä
to ask
jos
if
vahtimestari
caretaker
Questions & Answers about Se kysyis vahtimestarilta, jos se ois täällä.
Why is it vahtimestarilta and not just vahtimestaria?
In Finnish, verbs of asking like kysyä require the person you are asking to be in the ablative case (-lta/-ltä). Think of it as asking for information from someone, rather than directing the action at them.
What verb forms are kysyis and ois?
They are colloquial spoken language forms of the conditional mood, meaning would ask and would be. In standard written Finnish, they would be kysyisi and olisi. In spoken Finnish, the final -i is very often dropped in these forms.
The translation says he, but the Finnish sentence uses se. Doesn't se mean it?
In standard written language, se means it and hän means he or she. However, in spoken Finnish, it is completely standard and very common to use se to refer to people.
Why use täällä instead of tässä for here?
Täällä refers to a general area, like being present in the building or vicinity. Tässä would imply a much more specific, narrow spot, like right here on this exact mark.
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