Breakdown of Huomenna saattaa alkaa kova lumisade.
huomenna
tomorrow
alkaa
to start
kova
strong (intense, hard)
saattaa
may, might
Questions & Answers about Huomenna saattaa alkaa kova lumisade.
I've learned saattaa as a verb meaning "to escort" or "to accompany." How do I know it means "might" here?
The meaning of saattaa shifts depending on what comes after it. When it is paired directly with a verb in the 1st infinitive (like alkaa), it acts as an epistemic modal verb meaning "might" or "may." If it were followed by a person or a destination instead (for example, Saatan sinut kotiin), it would mean "to escort."
Why is the subject, kova lumisade, at the very end of the sentence instead of the beginning?
This is a typical word order when introducing a new phenomenon, which is very common with weather or existential sentences. It follows a "Time/Place – Verb – Subject" structure. Putting huomenna first sets the scene, while leaving kova lumisade at the end introduces it naturally as the new information being presented.
Since this is a weather-related sentence, is saattaa in a fixed impersonal form, or does it actually agree with the subject?
It actually agrees with the subject! Even though it is pushed to the end of the sentence, kova lumisade is the grammatical subject in the nominative case. Because it is a singular noun, the verb is conjugated in the 3rd person singular (saattaa). If the subject were plural, the verb would change to saattavat.
Could I just say Ehkä huomenna alkaa kova lumisade instead of using this modal verb construction?