Breakdown of Inventaario oli helppo, paitsi että jopa hävikki oli suuri.
olla
to be
helppo
easy
että
that (conjunction)
suuri
large, great
jopa
even (affirmative)
paitsi
except (for), besides
inventaario
stocktaking
hävikki
wastage
Questions & Answers about Inventaario oli helppo, paitsi että jopa hävikki oli suuri.
Why do we use paitsi että here instead of just paitsi?
The word paitsi on its own requires the following noun to be in the partitive case, like paitsi minua (except me). However, when you want to connect a whole new clause that has its own subject and verb, you must use the conjunction paitsi että (except that). Here, it introduces the full clause jopa hävikki oli suuri.
What kind of wastage does hävikki refer to, and where does the word come from?
The noun hävikki specifically refers to shrinkage, spoilage, or material loss in a business or inventory context. It comes from the verb hävitä, which means to disappear or to lose.
Could I use myös or edes instead of jopa to mean even in this sentence?
No, jopa is the correct word for even when you are expressing surprise or extreme emphasis in an affirmative sentence. The word edes means even but is restricted to negative sentences (like not even), and myös simply means also without the emphatic surprise of jopa.
Why is the adjective suuri in the nominative case rather than the partitive suurta?
In Finnish, the predicative adjective is in the nominative when the subject is viewed as a single, indivisible entity. By using the nominative suuri, the speaker is treating the total wastage (hävikki) as one specific, calculated figure. If they were talking about an unquantifiable, continuous mass of waste, they might use the partitive suurta.
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