Breakdown of Nuoruudesta pitäen raittius on ollut selkeä valinta.
olla
to be
selkeä
clear
nuoruus
the youth
valinta
choice
pitäen
since
raittius
the sobriety
Questions & Answers about Nuoruudesta pitäen raittius on ollut selkeä valinta.
Why is nuoruus in the elative case (nuoruudesta) here?
The postposition pitäen (meaning 'since' or 'from') strictly requires the word it follows to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). It marks a starting point in time, so nuoruudesta pitäen literally translates to 'starting from youth'.
Could I use lähtien instead of pitäen in this sentence?
Yes, you could absolutely say nuoruudesta lähtien. When establishing a starting point in time, pitäen and lähtien are essentially interchangeable, and both require the elative case. However, pitäen can sometimes sound slightly more formal or appear in fixed expressions like alusta pitäen (from the beginning).
How exactly does the stem of nuoruus change to form nuoruudesta?
Nuoruus is an abstract noun derived from the adjective nuori (young). Nouns ending in -uus or -yys change that ending to -uude- or -yyde- before adding case suffixes. Therefore, the base nuoruus changes to the stem nuoruude-, and we add the elative ending -sta.
Why is selkeä valinta in the nominative case instead of the partitive?
This is a standard 'A is B' type of sentence. Even though the subject, raittius (sobriety), is an abstract concept, the complement—what sobriety is—is a singular, countable thing: a choice (valinta). Because it describes a complete, single entity rather than a mass or an ongoing process, the complement takes the nominative case.
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