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Haistan maitoa, koska päiväys on ohi, mutta se on yhä syömäkelpoista.

Haistan maitoa, koska päiväys on ohi, mutta se on yhä syömäkelpoista.
I smell the milk because the date is past, but it is still edible.
From Lesson 338:Duration clauses (niin kauan kuin)·Finnish

Questions & Answers about Haistan maitoa, koska päiväys on ohi, mutta se on yhä syömäkelpoista.

Why does it use syömäkelpoista (edible) instead of a word for 'drinkable' for milk?
While juomakelpoinen (drinkable) exists, syömäkelpoinen is often used as a general catch-all term for 'safe to consume' or 'edible', even for liquids. The suffix -kelpoinen means 'fit for' or 'suitable for', attached here to the verbal noun syömä (eating).
Why is the adjective syömäkelpoista in the partitive case?
The pronoun se refers to maito (milk), which is an uncountable mass noun. In Finnish, when the subject is a mass noun, the adjective describing it (the predicative) must be in the partitive case.
Why does haistan take the partitive maitoa here rather than the accusative?
The verb haistaa (to actively smell or sniff) takes the partitive when you are currently in the process of smelling something, making it an ongoing, incomplete action. If you successfully detected a specific scent as a completed action, you would use the accusative, for example: Haistoin savun (I smelled the smoke).
The current lesson is about niin kauan kuin (as long as). How could I use it to express a similar idea here?
You could say: Maito on syömäkelpoista niin kauan kuin se ei haise pahalta (The milk is safe to consume as long as it doesn't smell bad). This also highlights the difference between haistaa (to actively sniff, used in the original sentence) and haista (to give off a smell).
Does päiväys just mean 'date'?
Päiväys refers specifically to a date marked or stamped on something, like an expiration date on a carton or a date on a document. For a standard calendar date, you would use päivämäärä instead. Saying the marked date is ohi (past/over) is the natural Finnish way to say a product has expired.

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