Word
Pomo sanoi, että hän ei tavoita sitä asiantuntijaa, jota te etsitte.
Meaning
The boss said that he could not reach the expert whom you were looking for.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Pomo sanoi, että hän ei tavoita sitä asiantuntijaa, jota te etsitte.
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
hän
he / she
te
you (plural/formal)
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
Questions & Answers about Pomo sanoi, että hän ei tavoita sitä asiantuntijaa, jota te etsitte.
Why is ei tavoita in the present tense when the English translation says "could not reach"?
This is the rule of tense retention in Finnish reported speech. You keep the exact tense the original speaker used. The boss originally said, "I cannot reach the expert" (en tavoita). Even though the main verb sanoi (said) is in the past tense, the reported action stays in the present tense. English usually shifts the reported part to the past tense ("could not") to match the main verb, but Finnish does not.
Why are the words for "that expert" in the partitive case (sitä asiantuntijaa)?
They act as the object of the negative verb phrase ei tavoita (cannot reach). In Finnish, if a sentence is negative, its object must always be in the partitive case.
Why is the relative pronoun jota (whom) also in the partitive case?
Relative pronouns take the case required by the role they play inside their own clause. Here, jota is the object of etsitte (you were looking for). The verb etsiä (to look for) always requires a partitive object. It is in the partitive specifically because of etsiä, not just because it is copying the case of asiantuntijaa.
How can you tell if te etsitte means "you look for" (present) or "you were looking for" (past)?