Breakdown of Onko hanke kehitteillä vai jo meneillään?
olla
to be
vai
or (in questions)
jo
already
hanke
project (venture, initiative)
meneillään
underway
kehitteillä
under development
Questions & Answers about Onko hanke kehitteillä vai jo meneillään?
Why does meneillään have a possessive suffix but kehitteillä does not?
Some of these ongoing process adverbials require a possessive suffix, like meneillään with its -än suffix, while others do not. Generally, if the word is based on a deverbal noun (a noun derived from a verb), like kehitteillä (from kehite) or suunnitteilla (from suunnitelma), it takes the plural adessive ending without a possessive suffix.
How exactly are kehitteillä and meneillään formed grammatically?
They are formed using the plural adessive case, which is -illa or -illä. Kehitteillä comes from the noun kehite, making it literally 'at developments'. Meneillään comes from the verb mennä (to go), combined with the plural adessive -illä and the third-person possessive suffix -än, translating roughly to 'at its goings'. Both are fixed expressions indicating an ongoing process.
Why is vai used here for 'or' instead of tai?
In Finnish, vai is specifically used in mutually exclusive questions where you expect the listener to choose one of the options. Since a project cannot be simultaneously just 'under development' and 'already underway', and this is a direct question offering these two options, vai is required. You use tai in statements or when options are not mutually exclusive.
Could I use projekti instead of hanke in this sentence?
Yes, projekti is a very common synonym and perfectly fine to use here. However, hanke is slightly more formal or implies a larger scale, often translating to 'undertaking', 'initiative', or a major public development.
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