Breakdown of On vaikea puolustautua hyvää siirtoa vastaan.
olla
to be
hyvä
good
vaikea
difficult / hard
vastaan
against
puolustautua
to defend oneself
siirto
move
Questions & Answers about On vaikea puolustautua hyvää siirtoa vastaan.
Why are hyvä and siirto in the partitive case (hyvää siirtoa)?
They are governed by the postposition vastaan ("against"). While most Finnish postpositions require the genitive case, certain ones like vastaan, varten, and kohti require the word preceding them to be in the partitive case.
In English, we say "against a good move". Why is vastaan placed at the end of the phrase?
Vastaan is a postposition. Unlike English prepositions, which come before the noun, Finnish postpositions come after the noun phrase they refer to. So, "against a good move" is structured as "a good move against" (hyvää siirtoa vastaan).
I know the verb puolustaa means "to defend". What does the -utua ending in puolustautua do?
The -utua ending makes the verb reflexive, meaning the action is directed back at the subject. While puolustaa means "to defend (someone or something else)", puolustautua specifically means "to defend oneself".
Why doesn't the sentence start with se to mean "it is difficult"?
English requires a "dummy" subject (like "it") for general statements, as in "It is raining" or "It is difficult to...". Finnish doesn't use dummy pronouns, so you simply start the phrase directly with the verb on (on vaikea).
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