Breakdown of Maito säilyy jääkaapissa niin kauan kuin se on kylmää.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
jääkaappi
fridge
maito
milk
kylmä
cold
säilyä
to stay fresh / to remain / be preserved
niin kauan kuin
as long as
Questions & Answers about Maito säilyy jääkaapissa niin kauan kuin se on kylmää.
How does the phrase niin kauan kuin work here, and does it affect the grammar of the following clause?
Niin kauan kuin (as long as) acts as a temporal conjunction connecting two concurrent situations. It is very straightforward to use because it doesn't force any special word order, case, or verb mood. In this sentence, both clauses simply use the standard present tense to state a general fact.
Could I just say kauan kuin instead of the full phrase?
No, the full phrase niin kauan kuin must be used together to mean 'as long as'. Literally, it translates to 'so long as'. The word niin (so) acts as an anchor that sets up the duration being compared by kuin (as/than).
The translation says 'stays fresh', but there's no word for 'fresh' in the Finnish sentence. Why?
The verb säilyä means 'to last', 'to remain', or 'to be preserved'. When talking about food or drinks, säilyä on its own naturally implies that the item stays good, unspoiled, or edible. You don't need to add a word like tuore (fresh)—the verb already carries that implication!
Why is the adjective kylmää in the partitive case instead of the nominative kylmä?
It describes the pronoun se (it), which refers back to maito (milk). Because milk is an uncountable substance (a mass noun), any adjective describing its state with the verb olla (to be) must take the partitive case. If you were describing a countable, individual object like the fridge itself, you would use the nominative (jääkaappi on kylmä).
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