Word
Tämä ruoka ei sisällä yhtään proteiinia, mutta ainakin se antaa energiaa.
Meaning
This food does not contain any protein, but at least it gives energy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Tämä ruoka ei sisällä yhtään proteiinia, mutta ainakin se antaa energiaa.
tämä
this
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
mutta
but
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
Questions & Answers about Tämä ruoka ei sisällä yhtään proteiinia, mutta ainakin se antaa energiaa.
Why does this sentence use ainakin instead of vähintään for "at least"?
Even though both mean "at least", they are used differently. Vähintään is strictly for measurable quantities and numbers (like "at least 10 grams"). Ainakin is used for subjective minimums, emphasis, or pointing out a silver lining, which is exactly what is happening here: it lacks protein, but at least it gives energy.
Why do we use yhtään here for "any" instead of mitään?
Why are both proteiinia and energiaa in the partitive case?
For proteiinia, there are two reasons: the sentence is negative (ei sisällä), and the verb sisältää (to contain) naturally requires a partitive object. For energiaa, it is the object of antaa (to give), and because energy is an uncountable mass noun (it gives an unspecified amount of energy, not a single whole "energy"), it must be partitive.
Could ainakin be moved to the end of the sentence?