Breakdown of Särkylääke voi muuttua vaaralliseksi, jos otat sitä liikaa.
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
ottaa
to take
voida
can, to be able to
jos
if
Questions & Answers about Särkylääke voi muuttua vaaralliseksi, jos otat sitä liikaa.
Why is "dangerous" written as vaaralliseksi and not just vaarallinen?
The verb muuttua (to change, turn into) requires the word describing the new state to be in the translative case. The -ksi ending on vaaralliseksi shows what the painkiller becomes.
Why do we use the partitive form sitä for "it" here?
You are talking about taking an unspecified amount of the medicine, not a single whole, countable object. Additionally, expressions of quantity like liikaa (too much) naturally pair with the partitive case for the thing being measured.
What exactly is liikaa in terms of grammar?
It is the partitive form of the word liika (excess). In Finnish, when you want to say "too much" as an adverb describing how much you do an action, you use this partitive form.
How is the word särkylääke formed?
It is a compound word made of särky (ache, pain) and lääke (medicine, drug). You will see lääke at the end of many medical terms in Finnish.