Breakdown of Asiantuntija, joksi he hänet nimittivät, menestyi nopeasti.
hän
he / she
he
they
nopeasti
fast
joka
who / which (relative pronoun)
asiantuntija
expert
nimittää
to appoint
menestyä
to succeed (prosper, do well)
Questions & Answers about Asiantuntija, joksi he hänet nimittivät, menestyi nopeasti.
Why is the relative pronoun joka in the translative case (joksi) here?
The verb nimittää (to appoint) describes a change of state or giving someone a new role. In Finnish, verbs expressing becoming, naming, or appointing require the translative case ending -ksi. Here, joksi acts as the object of that change and translates roughly to 'as which'.
If the sentence was about working as an expert instead of being appointed as one, would the relative pronoun change?
Exactly! If the relative clause used a static verb like työskennellä (to work), you would use the essive case jona to express a continuous state or role. It would be Asiantuntija, jona hän työskenteli (The expert, as whom he worked). Because nimittää implies a transition, we must use the translative joksi.
Why is the object hänet and not hänen?
Hänet is the total object of the relative clause. Regular nouns usually take an -n ending for a total object, which looks identical to the genitive case. However, personal pronouns (like hän, minä, sinä) have a special accusative form that always ends in -t.
How do the verbs nimittivät and menestyi relate to each other in this sentence?
They belong to two different clauses. The main sentence is Asiantuntija menestyi nopeasti (The expert succeeded quickly). The relative clause joksi he hänet nimittivät (as which they appointed him) is inserted directly into the middle of the main sentence, right after the noun it describes.
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