Word
Jokainen on velvollinen ilmoittamaan tulipalosta hälytyskeskukseen.
Meaning
Everyone is obliged to report the fire to the emergency response centre.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Jokainen on velvollinen ilmoittamaan tulipalosta hälytyskeskukseen.
olla
to be
tulipalo
fire
ilmoittaa
to inform
jokainen
every / each (declinable)
Questions & Answers about Jokainen on velvollinen ilmoittamaan tulipalosta hälytyskeskukseen.
Why is "to report" translated as ilmoittamaan rather than the basic infinitive ilmoittaa?
This is due to adjective rection. Adjectives expressing ability, readiness, or obligation, such as velvollinen (obliged), require the attached verb to be in the 3rd infinitive illative form, which ends in -maan or -mään.
Why is the fire in the elative case (tulipalosta)?
The verb ilmoittaa (to report or inform) requires the thing being reported to be in the elative case (-sta or -stä). Think of it as reporting about the fire.
Why use the illative case for the emergency center (hälytyskeskukseen) instead of the allative (hälytyskeskukselle)?
When directing communication, reports, or documents to an institution, organization, or official body in Finnish, you typically use the illative case. You are reporting the fire into the center. If you were reporting it to a specific person or profession, you would use the allative, for example poliisille (to the police).
Since jokainen means "everyone", why does it take the singular verb on and singular adjective velvollinen?
Just like the word "everyone" in English, the pronoun jokainen is grammatically singular. Therefore, it requires the verb and any describing adjectives in the sentence to also be in their singular forms.