Breakdown of Unohdettujen heimo piiloutuu varjoihin.
unohtaa
to forget
varjo
shadow
piiloutua
to hide (oneself)
heimo
tribe
Questions & Answers about Unohdettujen heimo piiloutuu varjoihin.
How does the verb unohtaa function as the noun 'the forgotten' in this sentence?
It uses a substantivized participle. Unohdettu is the passive past participle, meaning forgotten. Rather than modifying a noun like an adjective, it is inflected directly as a noun. Here it takes the genitive plural form unohdettujen, meaning 'of the forgotten ones'.
Since unohdettujen means 'of the forgotten ones', how would I say 'of the ones who forgot'?
You would use the active past participle unohtanut. To make it plural and genitive to match this sentence structure, it becomes unohtaneiden. The phrase unohtaneiden heimo would mean 'the tribe of those who forgot'.
Why is the verb piiloutua used here instead of piilottaa?
Piiloutua is a reflexive verb ending in -utua, meaning 'to hide oneself'. If you used the transitive verb piilottaa, meaning 'to hide', the sentence would feel incomplete because it would require a direct object to specify what the tribe is hiding.
Why is varjoihin in the illative case when the English translation says 'in the shadows'?
In Finnish, verbs expressing hiding or leaving things somewhere, such as piiloutua or jäädä, require a destination case. The action is viewed as a movement into a location. Because the tribe is moving into the shadows to hide, we must use the illative plural varjoihin rather than the inessive plural varjoissa.
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