Breakdown of Älköön kuningas antako tätä riittiä jollekin olennolle, jolla on paha aie.
tämä
this
olla
to be
antaa
to give
joku
somebody, someone
paha
bad (evil, severe)
kuningas
king
joka
who / which (relative pronoun)
älköön
let not (3rd person singular; plural: älkööt)
riitti
ritual
olento
creature
aie
intention
Questions & Answers about Älköön kuningas antako tätä riittiä jollekin olennolle, jolla on paha aie.
How is the negative command älköön kuningas antako formed, and why is the subject in the middle?
This is the 3rd person singular negative imperative, meaning "let the king not give" or "the king shall not give". It is formed using the 3rd person negative verb älköön, followed by the subject kuningas, and finally the main verb. The main verb antaa takes the imperative suffix -ko or -kö on its strong vowel stem, becoming antako.
Why is the object tätä riittiä in the partitive case rather than the accusative?
Because this is a negative command. Just like in standard indicative sentences, when an action is negative (here driven by the negative verb älköön), the object of that action must be in the partitive case.
How exactly is the word jollekin constructed?
It is the allative case (the "to" or "onto" case) of the indefinite pronoun joku (some or someone). Because the ritual is being given to a creature (olennolle), the pronoun must match its case. The allative stem of joku is jolle, and the enclitic particle -kin is attached to the very end, resulting in jollekin.
Why does the relative clause start with jolla on?
This is the standard Finnish "to have" construction applied to a relative pronoun. Just as minulla on means "I have" (literally "on me is"), jolla on means "who has" (literally "on whom is"). The pronoun joka takes the adessive case (jolla) to refer back to the creature (olennolle) that possesses the evil intention.
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