Breakdown of Haluatko kokeilla akupunktiota sen sijaan että ottaisit lääkettä?
ottaa
to take
haluta
to want
lääke
medicine
sen sijaan että
instead of
kokeilla
to try (test out)
akupunktio
acupuncture
Questions & Answers about Haluatko kokeilla akupunktiota sen sijaan että ottaisit lääkettä?
Why is the verb ottaisit in the conditional mood here?
The phrase sen sijaan että (instead of) introduces an alternative action that isn't actually happening. Because taking the medicine is hypothetical or unrealized in this scenario, the verb following että requires the conditional marker -isi-.
Could I just use an infinitive verb like sen sijaan ottaa instead of creating a whole new clause?
In English you can simply say "instead of taking", but in Finnish, sen sijaan että must be followed by a full clause with a conjugated verb. You cannot just attach an infinitive directly to sen sijaan.
Why is the word for acupuncture translated as akupunktiota with a partitive ending?
Why is lääkettä also in the partitive case rather than the accusative?
Here, medicine (lääke) is treated as an uncountable mass noun. Since you are talking about taking some unspecified amount of medicine rather than one specific whole entity, the object must be in the partitive case.
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