Breakdown of Laskettelu saattaa olla yksi maailman vaarallisimmista harrastuksista.
olla
to be
yksi
one
maailma
world
vaarallinen
dangerous
harrastus
hobby
saattaa
may, might
laskettelu
the downhill skiing
Questions & Answers about Laskettelu saattaa olla yksi maailman vaarallisimmista harrastuksista.
How does saattaa change the meaning here compared to using the conditional olisi?
saattaa is an epistemic modal verb, meaning it expresses a real possibility or probability based on what the speaker knows. saattaa olla means it might be or may be true in reality. If you used the conditional olisi, it would imply a hypothetical or imaginary situation, such as it would be dangerous if we went today.
Why are vaarallisimmista and harrastuksista in the elative case (-sta)?
How do we build the word vaarallisimmista from the base adjective vaarallinen?
First, take the superlative stem of vaarallinen, which is vaarallisimma-. Because the sentence requires the elative plural, we add the plural marker -i- and the elative ending -sta. The final -a- of the stem drops out before the plural -i-, resulting in vaarallisimmista.
Could I use the word hiihto instead of laskettelu here?
Not if you mean downhill skiing. In Finland, hiihto specifically refers to cross-country skiing, which is generally quite safe. For downhill skiing on a slope, you must use the word laskettelu.
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