Breakdown of Kallis rannekello lienee lipastossa.
olla
to be
kallis
expensive
lipasto
dresser
rannekello
wristwatch
Questions & Answers about Kallis rannekello lienee lipastossa.
Where does the word lienee come from, and why doesn't it look like olla?
Lienee is the highly irregular potential mood form of the verb olla (to be). While most verbs in the potential mood use the marker -ne-, olla changes completely to the root lie-. In the third-person singular, it becomes lienee, replacing on to mean 'is probably' or 'might be'.
Could I just say on luultavasti or on ehkä instead of using lienee?
Yes, on luultavasti (is probably) or on ehkä (is maybe) mean the exact same thing and are much more common in everyday spoken Finnish. The potential mood lienee is elegant but quite formal, mostly found in written Finnish, news broadcasts, or literature.
If I change the word order to Lipastossa lienee kallis rannekello, does it change the meaning?
Yes, slightly. The original sentence tells you where a specific, already-known watch is (The expensive wristwatch is probably in the dresser). Starting with the location makes it an existential sentence, introducing new information: 'There is probably an expensive wristwatch in the dresser'.
What is the base form of lipastossa, and is there a trick to remembering words like this?