Breakdown of Olen peloissani, kun kilpa-auto ohittaa minut.
olla
to be
minä
I
kilpa-auto
race car
ohittaa
to overtake
peloissaan
scared (in a state of fear)
Questions & Answers about Olen peloissani, kun kilpa-auto ohittaa minut.
How does peloissani translate to "scared"?
This is a subject-bound state adverbial! It is built from the noun pelko (fear). It uses the plural inessive case (peloissa-, literally "in fears") plus the first-person singular possessive suffix -ni ("my"). While it literally means "in my fears", it is the standard way to express the state of being scared.
Why does the "k" from pelko disappear in peloissani?
This is standard consonant gradation. The plural inessive ending -issa closes the second syllable, forcing the strong grade "k" in pelko to weaken and disappear, resulting in the weak stem peloi-.
If I want to say "he is scared", how does the word peloissani change?
Because this is a subject-bound adverbial, the possessive suffix must match the subject. To say "he is scared", you swap the first-person -ni for the third-person suffix, resulting in Hän on peloissaan.
Why is "me" translated as minut instead of the partitive minua?
The verb ohittaa (to overtake) takes a total object here because the action is seen as a completed event: the car successfully passes you. When personal pronouns are total objects, they take their special accusative form ending in -t (minut).
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