Breakdown of Eikö edustaja äänestä poissaolevan johtajan puolesta?
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
johtaja
the director
äänestää
to vote
puolesta
on behalf of, for
Questions & Answers about Eikö edustaja äänestä poissaolevan johtajan puolesta?
Why are both poissaolevan and johtajan in the genitive case?
They are governed by the postposition puolesta (on behalf of). In Finnish, most postpositions require the word they modify, along with any attached adjectives, to take the genitive case. Here, the entire phrase poissaolevan johtajan (the absent manager's) is put into the genitive before the postposition.
How is the word poissaolevan formed?
It comes from the phrase olla poissa (to be absent or away). Oleva is the present active participle (meaning 'being') of the verb olla. Combined with poissa, it forms the adjective poissaoleva (absent). It takes the genitive ending -n to match the noun it describes, johtajan.
Why is the verb form äänestä rather than äänestää?
Because this is a negative sentence. The main verb drops its personal ending and uses the connegative stem äänestä. The grammatical person is handled by the negative verb ei (he/she doesn't), which here has the question clitic -kö attached to form eikö (doesn't he/she?).
Does the postposition puolesta come from the word puoli (side)?