Breakdown of Tämä paita on liian tahrainen kelvatakseen.
tämä
this
olla
to be
paita
shirt
liian
too (excessively)
kelvata
to be acceptable
tahrainen
stained
Questions & Answers about Tämä paita on liian tahrainen kelvatakseen.
How is kelvatakseen formed in this sentence?
It is built from the 1st infinitive of the verb kelvata (to be acceptable), the translative marker -kse-, and the third-person possessive suffix -en. In this excessive resultative construction (too X to Y), the possessive suffix matches the subject of the sentence, which here is the third-person Tämä paita.
Could I use kelvataksensa instead of kelvatakseen?
Yes, you can. The third-person possessive suffix has two variants: the -nsA ending and the vowel-lengthening -Vn ending. Both kelvatakseen and kelvataksensa are grammatically correct and mean the exact same thing, but kelvatakseen is much more common in practice.
What exactly does the verb kelvata mean here?
Kelvata translates to 'to be good enough', 'to suffice', or 'to be acceptable'. It is an intransitive verb often used when evaluating if something meets a certain standard. Here, it implies the shirt is too stained to be worn or used for whatever occasion was intended.
How does the word tahrainen relate to other vocabulary?
It is formed from the noun tahra (stain, spot) and the productive suffix -inen, which turns nouns into adjectives meaning 'containing' or 'having the quality of'. You have seen this same suffix in words like likainen (dirty) from lika (dirt).
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