Breakdown of Uusi johtaja on liian ankara alaisille.
olla
to be
uusi
new
johtaja
the director
liian
too (excessively)
ankara
strict (severe, harsh)
alainen
the subordinate
Questions & Answers about Uusi johtaja on liian ankara alaisille.
Why is alaisille in the allative case (ending in -lle) instead of using a word for "with"?
Adjectives describing an attitude or behavior towards someone, like ankara (strict), require the allative case. While English says "strict with" or "strict towards", Finnish directs the strictness "to" the person.
How is the word alaisille formed from its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is alainen (subordinate). For words ending in -nen, the plural stem is formed by replacing -nen with -si-. To this plural stem (alaisi-), we add the allative case ending -lle, giving us alaisille.
Could I use the postposition kohtaan here to mean "towards"?
Yes, you can perfectly well say liian ankara alaisia kohtaan. Note that when using kohtaan, the target word must be in the partitive case (alaisia). The allative version (alaisille) used in this sentence is just a more concise and very natural way to express the same meaning.
What other common adjectives behave like ankara and take the allative case?
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