Breakdown of Kerho nimitti hänet kunniajäseneksi ja risti hänet Karhuksi.
ja
and
hänet
him / her
karhu
bear
kerho
club
nimittää
to appoint
ristiä
to christen
kunniajäsen
honorary member
Questions & Answers about Kerho nimitti hänet kunniajäseneksi ja risti hänet Karhuksi.
Why do both kunniajäseneksi and Karhuksi end in the translative suffix -ksi?
Verbs of naming, electing, and appointing, like nimittää (to appoint) and ristiä (to christen or name), require the new role or name to be in the translative case. This case expresses the new state, title, or position the person is taking on.
Why is the pronoun hänet used here instead of the partitive häntä?
Appointing and naming are completed, bounded actions, meaning they require a total object rather than a partitive one. For personal pronouns, the total object takes the special accusative -t ending, making it hänet.
I learned that ristiä means to baptize or to cross. Is it normally used for giving someone a secular nickname like Bear?
Yes! While ristiä literally means to baptize or to cross, Finns frequently use it in a casual, figurative way to mean to dub, to christen, or to give someone a nickname.
Why is Karhuksi capitalized in this sentence?
Because the club is giving him Bear as a specific nickname, so it acts as a proper noun here. If a wizard had magically transformed him into a literal animal, karhuksi would be lowercase!
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