Breakdown of Jokaisessa sydämessä asuu hyvyys.
asua
to live
hyvyys
the goodness
jokainen
every / each (declinable)
sydän
heart
Questions & Answers about Jokaisessa sydämessä asuu hyvyys.
How do we get jokaisessa from jokainen?
The pronoun jokainen (each/every) follows the same rules as other words ending in -nen. To build the stem, you change the -nen to -se-. This gives the stem jokaise-, to which we add the inessive ending -ssa to say 'in every'.
Why does the word for heart look so different here?
The dictionary form is sydän. Finnish words ending in -in, -un, -ön, or -än usually change their final -n to -me- when adding case endings. So, sydän becomes the stem sydäme-, and adding the inessive ending -ssä gives us sydämessä (in the heart).
Why does the sentence start with the location rather than the subject hyvyys?
Finnish often uses a 'location + verb + subject' word order for existential sentences to express that something exists somewhere. Starting with jokaisessa sydämessä places the focus on where the goodness is found, which sounds very natural and poetic in Finnish.
How is the word hyvyys formed?
It is an abstract noun created from the adjective hyvä (good). Adding the suffix -uus or -yys (following vowel harmony rules) is the Finnish equivalent of adding the English suffix '-ness', easily turning 'good' into 'goodness'.
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