Breakdown of Opetus on vaikeaa sen takia, että opetussuunnitelma on aivan uusi.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
uusi
new
vaikea
difficult / hard
että
that (conjunction)
aivan
exactly / quite (completely)
takia
because of
opetus
the teaching
opetussuunnitelma
the curriculum
Questions & Answers about Opetus on vaikeaa sen takia, että opetussuunnitelma on aivan uusi.
How does the pronoun bridge sen takia, että work here, and could I just use koska?
Takia is a postposition meaning "because of" that requires the genitive case. Because postpositions cannot attach directly to an että (that) clause, we use the pronoun se as a bridge. We put se into the genitive to satisfy the postposition, giving us sen takia. Then we add the että clause to explain what "it" is. You could just use koska (because), but this bridge structure is very common and sounds a bit more formal or deliberate.
What happens if I leave out the word että here?
The meaning of the sentence would completely flip! On its own, sen takia means "because of that" or "therefore." Without että, the sentence would mean "Teaching is difficult, therefore the curriculum is quite new." The että is absolutely necessary to introduce the actual reason rather than the consequence.
Why is the adjective vaikeaa in the partitive case, while uusi is in the nominative case?
This is because of the types of subjects they describe. Opetus (teaching) is being treated as an abstract, uncountable concept, so its predicative adjective takes the partitive (vaikeaa). However, opetussuunnitelma (curriculum) is a concrete, countable noun, so its adjective stays in the basic nominative form (uusi).
Does aivan mean "quite" or "completely" in this sentence?
It means "completely" or "entirely." While it is often translated as "quite" in English, in Finnish aivan uusi carries the strong meaning of being brand new or totally new. If you wanted to say it was merely "fairly new," you would use melko uusi instead.
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