Breakdown of Ikärakenne muuttuu, kun viidennes ihmisistä on eläkeläisiä.
olla
to be
ihminen
human
kun
when (conjunction)
eläkeläinen
the pensioner
muuttua
to change
ikärakenne
age structure
viidennes
fifth (fraction)
Questions & Answers about Ikärakenne muuttuu, kun viidennes ihmisistä on eläkeläisiä.
How exactly is viidennes formed from the number five?
The fraction suffix -nes is added to the stem of the ordinal number. The ordinal for five is viides and its stem is viiden-. Adding the suffix gives viidennes (a fifth). This same pattern creates words like kolmannes (a third) from kolmas.
Why is ihmisistä in the elative case (ending in -stä) here?
When expressing a fraction or a proportion out of a specific whole group, Finnish uses the elative case. Therefore, viidennes ihmisistä translates literally to "a fifth out of the people."
Why is the verb on in the singular when talking about a fifth of the people?
In Finnish, the grammatical subject of that clause is the word viidennes (a fifth). Because this fraction noun is grammatically singular, the verb must also be in the singular third-person form on, unlike in English where we often use the plural "are."
If the verb on is singular, why is the word eläkeläisiä (pensioners) in the partitive plural?
Even though the subject viidennes dictates a singular verb, its meaning refers to multiple individuals. When a grammatically singular subject represents a group or quantity of people, the subject complement describing what they are takes the partitive plural.
Why use the verb muuttuu instead of muuttaa?
Muuttua (here muuttuu) is an intransitive verb, meaning something changes its state on its own, like the age structure changing. Muuttaa is transitive, meaning someone intentionally changes something else, or it means to move to a new house.
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