Learn Finnish: Esimies huomautti minulle uudesta vaaratekijästä. - The manager pointed out the new hazard to me.

The verb huomauttaa (to point out / to remark) requires the thing being pointed out to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Similar to verbs of warning like varoittaa, you use the elative case to express what the communication or warning is about.

Why is the allative case (minulle) used for "to me" here, instead of a partitive object?

With huomauttaa, the person you are speaking to is considered the recipient of the remark, so they take the allative case (-lle). This is different from a verb like varoittaa (to warn), which takes a partitive object for the person being warned (e.g., Esimies varoitti minua = The manager warned me).

What is the difference between huomata and huomauttaa?

Huomata means "to notice" or "to observe" something yourself. Huomauttaa is its causative form; it essentially means "to make someone else notice," which is why it translates to "to point out" or "to remark."

How does the compound word vaaratekijä break down?

It is made of vaara (danger, hazard) and tekijä (maker, doer, or factor). In professional or formal contexts, tekijä is very commonly used to mean "factor" (like in ympäristötekijä - environmental factor), making vaaratekijä literally a "danger factor" or "risk factor."