Breakdown of Tunnetko itsesi riittämättömäksi tänään?
tänään
today
itse
self, oneself
tuntea
to feel (experience a sensation or emotion)
riittämätön
inadequate
Questions & Answers about Tunnetko itsesi riittämättömäksi tänään?
Why does riittämättömäksi have the translative ending -ksi instead of the essive -na?
In this specific structure (tuntea + reflexive pronoun + adjective), Finnish strongly prefers the translative case (-ksi) to describe a state of mind, mood, or feeling. The essive (-na) is typically reserved for expressing a role or identity, like feeling like a leader or a foreigner.
Why is the object itsesi instead of the partitive itseäsi?
When expressing a mental state with tuntea, the reflexive pronoun takes the accusative case, acting as a total object. For a second-person singular word with a possessive suffix, the accusative looks just like the nominative stem (itse-) plus the suffix (-si). Using the partitive itseäsi here would literally mean you are physically touching or feeling your own body!
How is the word riittämättömäksi built from its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is the adjective riittämätön (inadequate). When adding the translative -ksi ending, adjectives ending in -ton or -tön change their stem to -ttoma- or -ttömä-. Thus, riittämätön becomes the stem riittämättömä- before adding -ksi.
Where does the base adjective riittämätön (inadequate) come from?
It is built from the verb riittää (to be enough, to suffice). It uses the negative participle suffix -mätön, which creates an adjective meaning that something does not do the verb. So it literally translates to "not sufficing" or "not enough".
Learn Tunnetko itsesi riittämättömäksi tänään and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free