Word
He eivät etsi maallista ylellisyyttä, vaan hengellistä rauhaa.
Meaning
They do not seek worldly luxury, but rather spiritual peace.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of He eivät etsi maallista ylellisyyttä, vaan hengellistä rauhaa.
he
they
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
etsiä
to look for
rauha
peace
Questions & Answers about He eivät etsi maallista ylellisyyttä, vaan hengellistä rauhaa.
Why are the objects maallista ylellisyyttä and hengellistä rauhaa in the partitive case?
The verb etsiä (to seek, to look for) always requires its object to be in the partitive case. This is because the action of searching is ongoing and inherently incomplete—you haven't found the object yet.
Why does the sentence use vaan instead of mutta for the word "but"?
Vaan is specifically used after a negative statement (eivät etsi) to mean "but rather" or "instead." You use vaan when the second part of the sentence directly replaces or corrects the denied first part. If it were just a general contrast without a direct replacement, you would use mutta.
How is the noun ylellisyyttä (luxury) built?
It stems from the adjective ylellinen (luxurious). By adding the noun-forming suffix -yys (similar to "-ity" or "-ness" in English), you get the basic noun ylellisyys (luxury). When put into the partitive case, words ending in -yys change the ending to -yyttä, resulting in ylellisyyttä.
What is the pattern behind the adjectives maallista and hengellistä?