Breakdown of Mä kerroin sulle, et mä en tavoita pomoa!
minä
I
sinä
you
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
kertoa
to tell
pomo
boss
että
that (conjunction)
tavoittaa
to reach (get hold of someone)
Questions & Answers about Mä kerroin sulle, et mä en tavoita pomoa!
Why is the second verb in the present tense (en tavoita) when the English translation uses the past tense ('couldn't reach')?
In Finnish reported speech, you keep the tense of the original statement. The original thought was present tense: 'I cannot reach the boss' (Mä en tavoita pomoa). Even though the main verb kerroin (I told) is in the past tense, Finnish doesn't shift the reported verb to the past tense like English does.
Is et here the negative verb meaning 'you don't'?
No, in this spoken Finnish sentence, et is just a short form of the conjunction että (that). You can tell because the actual negative verb for 'I' (en) comes right after it.
Why is the object pomoa in the partitive case?
Because the action is negative. The verb phrase is en tavoita (I don't reach / I can't reach). In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always take the partitive case.
Why does the sentence use sulle instead of sinulle?
Sulle is the very common spoken Finnish version of sinulle (to you). This sentence is highly colloquial, which is also why it uses mä instead of minä and et instead of että.
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