Breakdown of Tukka harmaantuu yhä aikaisemmin.
aikaisin
early
tukka
the hair
yhä
still, yet (continuing)
harmaantua
to turn grey
Questions & Answers about Tukka harmaantuu yhä aikaisemmin.
Why does yhä mean "increasingly" here instead of its usual meaning "still"?
When you combine yhä with a comparative adjective or adverb like aikaisemmin, it creates the meaning of continuous change ("increasingly" or "more and more"). If it were used with a non-comparative base word, it would just carry its regular meaning of "still".
How is the verb harmaantuu formed, and can I use this pattern with other words?
It is formed by adding the suffix -ntua to the adjective harmaa (grey). This suffix creates a verb meaning "to become [adjective]" and is very common in Finnish. For example, pieni (small) becomes pienentyä (to become smaller) and lämmin (warm) becomes lämmetä (though the stem changes there, the idea is similar; a cleaner match is suurentua for getting bigger).
Is aikaisemmin the comparative form of an adjective or an adverb?
It is a comparative adverb. It comes from the base adverb aikaisin (early) and its comparative is aikaisemmin (earlier). Because it describes how or when the verb harmaantuu (turns grey) happens, we need the adverb form rather than the adjective comparative aikaisempi.
If I wanted to use hiukset instead of tukka, how would the sentence change?