Breakdown of Kestävä kehitys suojelee ympäristöä.
suojella
to protect (e.g., a person, nature)
ympäristö
environment
kestävä kehitys
sustainable development
Questions & Answers about Kestävä kehitys suojelee ympäristöä.
Why is ympäristöä in the partitive case here?
The verb suojella (to protect) is a partitive verb. Actions that are ongoing or do not have a definitive endpoint typically take a partitive object in Finnish. Therefore, the object ympäristö must take the partitive ending -ä.
Where does the word kestävä come from?
It is formed from the verb kestää (to last, to endure, to withstand). Adding the -vä ending turns it into a present active participle, which acts like an adjective meaning 'lasting' or 'enduring.' In this context, it is used to mean 'sustainable.'
How is the verb suojelee formed from its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is suojella, which is a type 3 verb. To find its stem, you drop the -la ending and add an -e, giving you the stem suojele-. For the third-person singular (it protects), you lengthen the final vowel of the stem, resulting in suojelee.
How would you say 'The environment has not been protected' using the perfect tense passive negative from this lesson?
You would say Ympäristöä ei ole suojeltu. You form this by using the negative auxiliary ei ole followed by the passive past participle of suojella, which is suojeltu. Notice that the object ympäristöä stays in the partitive case even in a passive sentence.
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