Breakdown of Poliisi etsii oudon näköistä epäiltyä.
etsiä
to look for
poliisi
the police / police officer
outo
strange
epäilty
suspect
näköinen
-looking / looking like
Questions & Answers about Poliisi etsii oudon näköistä epäiltyä.
Why is oudon in the genitive case instead of modifying the noun directly like a normal adjective?
In Finnish, to express that someone is strange-looking, you use a structure that literally translates to having the look of strange. This is built using the genitive form oudon (of strange) followed by näköinen (-looking).
Since näköistä and epäiltyä are in the partitive case, why doesn't oudon change to partitive too?
In these genitive-modifier compound adjectives, the first word is locked in the genitive case. Only the second part (näköinen) changes its case to match the noun it describes. So, oudon stays exactly as it is, while näköinen becomes näköistä to match epäiltyä.
Why are näköistä and epäiltyä in the partitive case here?
The verb etsiä (to look for) is a partitive verb. The object you are looking for must always be in the partitive case, which is why we use the partitive forms näköistä and epäiltyä.
What kind of word is epäiltyä and how is it formed?
It is the partitive form of the noun epäilty (suspect). Epäilty is actually a past passive participle created from the verb epäillä (to suspect or to doubt). It literally functions as 'a suspected person'.
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