Breakdown of Hän uskoi ystäviinsä, joten hän ei pelännyt tulla petetyksi.
hän
he / she
ystävä
friend
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
tulla
to become
pelätä
to fear
uskoa
to believe
joten
so, therefore
pettää
to betray
Questions & Answers about Hän uskoi ystäviinsä, joten hän ei pelännyt tulla petetyksi.
How does the phrase tulla petetyksi translate to "being betrayed"?
This is the translative participle construction, which expresses experiencing a passive action. It combines the verb tulla (to become) with the passive past participle of the verb pettää (to betray). The participle takes the translative case ending -ksi, so the phrase literally means "to become betrayed".
Why is ystäviinsä in the illative case here instead of the partitive?
The verb uskoa requires the illative case (into) when it means "to believe in" someone or something, such as a friend or an idea. If you only want to say you believe what someone is saying, you would use the partitive case, as in uskon sinua (I believe you).
What are the different suffixes attached to the word ystäviinsä?
It is built on the root ystävä (friend). First, we add the plural marker -i- and the illative ending -in, forming ystäviin (into the friends). Then, the third-person possessive suffix -nsä (his/her) is added. When a possessive suffix is attached to an illative form ending in -n, that final -n drops out, resulting in ystäviinsä.
Why is the word pelännyt used here instead of the standard past tense form pelkäsi?
The sentence is in the negative past tense. To form the negative past, Finnish uses the conjugated negative verb (here, ei) followed by the active past participle of the main verb. For the type 4 verb pelätä, that participle is pelännyt. If the sentence were positive, you would use the regular past tense form hän pelkäsi.
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