Breakdown of Hän kertoo tarinan vuodesta, jolloin esivanhemmat saapuivat.
hän
he / she
vuosi
year
kertoa
to tell
saapua
to arrive
tarina
story / tale
jolloin
when / at which time (relative)
esivanhempi
ancestor
Questions & Answers about Hän kertoo tarinan vuodesta, jolloin esivanhemmat saapuivat.
Why does this sentence use jolloin instead of kun for "when"?
Kun is a standard conjunction linking two events, like "when they arrived, we ate". Jolloin is a relative adverb that points directly back to a specific time noun just mentioned. Here, it refers specifically to vuodesta (the year), meaning "the year in which" or "at which time".
Why is the word for year in the elative case (vuodesta)?
The verb kertoa (to tell) requires the thing you are talking about to be in the elative case (-sta or -stä). Therefore, kertoa vuodesta means "to tell about the year".
Why is tarinan in the genitive/accusative case instead of the partitive?
Using the total object form tarinan shows that the action is complete: he tells the whole story. If the sentence used the partitive tarinaa, it would imply an ongoing action, meaning he is currently in the middle of telling it.
What are the parts of the compound word esivanhemmat?
It is built from esi- (meaning pre- or fore-) and vanhemmat (parents). Literally "fore-parents", it translates to ancestors.
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