Breakdown of Tuntui ikään kuin tämä olisi yksi maailman vaikeimmista sokkeloista.
tämä
this
olla
to be
vaikea
difficult / hard
yksi
one
maailma
world
tuntua
to feel
ikään kuin
as if / as though
sokkelo
maze / labyrinth (confusing network)
Questions & Answers about Tuntui ikään kuin tämä olisi yksi maailman vaikeimmista sokkeloista.
Why do we use the conditional olisi instead of the regular past tense oli here?
The phrase ikään kuin (as if / as though) introduces a hypothetical comparison. Because you are describing a situation that isn't actually true (it's not literally the hardest maze in the world, it just feels that way), Finnish requires the conditional mood, which gives us olisi.
Why are vaikeimmista and sokkeloista in the elative case (-sta) instead of the partitive?
In Finnish, to express 'one of the [things]', you use the word yksi followed by the plural elative case, which translates literally to 'one out of the [things]'. So yksi sokkeloista means 'one of the mazes'. Using the partitive plural here would be grammatically incorrect for this specific construction.
How is the superlative word vaikeimmista formed from vaikea (difficult)?
It is the plural elative form of the superlative adjective vaikein (the most difficult). The superlative marker -in changes to the stem -immi- when plural case endings are attached. Adding the plural elative suffix -sta gives us vaikeimmista, which perfectly matches the case and number of the noun it modifies, sokkeloista.
Why doesn't the sentence start with a word for 'It', like Se tuntui?
Finnish frequently omits dummy subjects (like 'it' in English) when using verbs that describe sensations, states, or weather, such as tuntua (to feel). Starting the sentence directly with the third-person singular verb Tuntui is the most natural and idiomatic way to express 'It felt'.
Learn Tuntui ikään kuin tämä olisi yksi maailman vaikeimmista sokkeloista and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free