Breakdown of En nauti pienistä huoneista, saati sitten ahtaasta luolasta.
pieni
small
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
huone
room
luola
cave
nauttia
to enjoy
ahdas
cramped
saati sitten
let alone
Questions & Answers about En nauti pienistä huoneista, saati sitten ahtaasta luolasta.
Why is ahtaasta luolasta in the elative case here?
It matches the case demanded by the main verb nauttia (to enjoy), which requires the elative case (-sta/-stä). The phrase saati sitten (let alone) simply continues the structure of the first part of the sentence (pienistä huoneista), so the noun following it must also take the elative.
Could I use puhumattakaan instead of saati sitten in this sentence?
Yes, you could say puhumattakaan ahtaasta luolasta (not to mention a cramped cave). Both are used in negative contexts to add an even more extreme example. saati sitten translates well to 'let alone' or 'much less,' while puhumattakaan literally means 'without even speaking of.'
Why does nauttia take the elative case (-sta/-stä) instead of the partitive like many other emotion verbs?
This is a specific verb government (rektio) rule in Finnish. While verbs like rakastaa (to love) or vihata (to hate) take the partitive, nauttia always requires the elative. You can memorize it by imagining that you draw enjoyment out of something.
What is the base form of ahtaasta, and how does its stem change?
The base form is ahdas (cramped or tight). Words ending in -as undergo reverse consonant gradation (changing from weak to strong) when adding most case endings. Here, the weak hd changes to the strong ht, making the stem ahtaa- before adding the elative ending -sta.
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