Breakdown of Esteistä huolimatta voitimme pelin harjoittelemalla.
peli
game
harjoitella
to practice
voittaa
to win
huolimatta
despite
Questions & Answers about Esteistä huolimatta voitimme pelin harjoittelemalla.
Why is esteistä in the elative case here?
The word huolimatta literally originates from the verb huolia (to care or worry about) combined with the negative infinitive ending -matta (without doing). Because verbs expressing "caring about" take the elative case in Finnish, huolimatta kept this requirement even as it became a fixed adposition meaning "despite." Here, esteistä is the plural elative of este (obstacle).
Can huolimatta be placed before the noun instead of after it?
Yes, it can. While it is heavily used as a postposition (esteistä huolimatta), you can also use it as a preposition (huolimatta esteistä). Both are grammatically correct and mean the exact same thing, though placing it after the noun is slightly more common in everyday usage.
What grammatical structure is used to form harjoittelemalla ("by practicing")?
This is the third infinitive of the verb harjoitella combined with the adessive case ending -lla. To form it, you take the strong verb stem (harjoittele-), add the third infinitive marker -ma-, and then add -lla. This specific combination (-malla/-mällä) is the standard Finnish way to express the means or method by which an action is achieved.
Why is the object pelin in the genitive-like accusative case rather than the partitive?