Log inSign up

Tätä aarretta ei liene jätetty laivaan.

Tätä aarretta ei liene jätetty laivaan.
This treasure was probably not left on the ship.
From Lesson 309:The passive perfect potential negative (ei liene tehty)·Finnish

Questions & Answers about Tätä aarretta ei liene jätetty laivaan.

How does the phrase ei liene jätetty break down grammatically?
This is the negative perfect potential in the passive voice, translating to was probably not left. It is formed with the negative verb ei, the potential form of the auxiliary verb olla stripped of its personal ending (liene), and the passive past participle of the main verb jättää (jätetty).
Why is the object tätä aarretta in the partitive case here?
Because the sentence is negative. In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. If this were a positive sentence, the object of the passive verb would be in the nominative case: Tämä aarre lienee jätetty laivaan.
Why do we use the illative case laivaan (into the ship) instead of the inessive laivassa (in the ship)?
The verb jättää (to leave) is treated as a directional verb in Finnish. The action of leaving something is viewed as moving it to a destination, so it requires a destination case like the illative (into) or allative (onto) rather than a static location case.
Could I just use the word ehkä (maybe) instead of the potential mood here?
Yes, and you usually will! The potential mood (lienee / ei liene) is mostly found in formal writing, literature, and news. In everyday spoken Finnish, it is much more natural to say: Tätä aarretta ei ehkä jätetty laivaan.

Learn Tätä aarretta ei liene jätetty laivaan and more in Finnish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Finnish →