Breakdown of Hän katsahtaa minuun tarkemmin, joten minä hymyilen.
minä
I
hän
he / she
hymyillä
to smile
tarkasti
carefully (closely, attentively)
Questions & Answers about Hän katsahtaa minuun tarkemmin, joten minä hymyilen.
How does the verb katsahtaa differ from the basic verb katsoa?
The suffix -ahtaa makes this a momentane verb. This means the action happens quickly, briefly, or suddenly. While katsoa means "to look", adding the suffix turns it into katsahtaa, meaning "to glance" or "to take a quick look".
Why does the sentence use the illative case minuun ("into me") instead of the partitive or adessive?
This is a strict rule (a verb rection) for verbs of looking in Finnish. The verbs katsoa and its momentane derivative katsahtaa require the target you are looking at to be in the illative case. So in Finnish, you literally glance "into" someone.
What kind of word is tarkemmin?
It is a comparative adverb. The base adjective is tarkka (exact or careful). The basic adverb form is tarkasti (carefully), but to say "more carefully", you use the comparative adverb suffix -mmin, giving us tarkemmin.
Why use joten for "so" instead of niin?
joten specifically means "so" or "therefore" when introducing a logical consequence or result of the previous statement. While niin is often used in spoken language for "so", it is usually paired with jos (if) or used as a conversational filler. joten clearly connects a cause and an effect in standard Finnish.