Breakdown of Vanha sohva on liian painava viedäkseni sen kaatopaikalle.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
vanha
old
sohva
sofa
viedä
to take (away, somewhere) / to take (time), require
painava
heavy
liian
too (excessively)
kaatopaikka
the landfill
Questions & Answers about Vanha sohva on liian painava viedäkseni sen kaatopaikalle.
What forms the word viedäkseni in this sentence?
It is built from the 1st infinitive of the verb viedä (to take), followed by the translative case marker -kse-, and finally the first-person singular possessive suffix -ni. Together with liian painava, this construction translates to 'too heavy for me to take'.
Why is the object sen in the genitive-accusative form rather than the basic nominative?
In Finnish, when an infinitive has a clear personal subject doing the action, its total object takes the genitive-accusative form. Because the possessive suffix -ni clearly shows that 'I' am doing the taking, the object must be sen.
Could I drop the word sen entirely, like we do in the English translation 'too heavy to take'?
No, you need to include sen. In English, the main subject (the sofa) can act as the implied object of the infinitive. In Finnish, this excessive resultative phrase requires its own explicit object pronoun to refer back to the sofa.
Why does kaatopaikka (landfill) take the allative case -lle here?
The verb viedä requires a directional case because you are moving something to a destination. Kaatopaikka traditionally uses the outer location cases, so moving something 'to' it requires the allative ending -lle.
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