Breakdown of Eikö meidän kannata karsia vanhat tavarat?
me
we
vanha
old
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
tavara
the item
kannattaa
to be profitable / to be worth it
karsia
to eliminate
Questions & Answers about Eikö meidän kannata karsia vanhat tavarat?
Why is the subject meidän in the genitive case instead of the basic me?
The verb kannattaa (to be worthwhile or advisable) functions structurally like a verb of necessity (such as täytyy). These verbs require their subject to be in the genitive case. Literally, the structure works like 'Isn't it worthwhile for us to...'.
Why is the object vanhat tavarat in the nominative plural instead of the partitive?
The sentence refers to eliminating the entire group of these specific old items, making it a total object. Plural total objects take the nominative plural (-t) ending. As a B2 reminder: because kannattaa acts as a necessity verb, even if the object were singular, it would take the basic nominative form (vanha tavara) rather than the genitive-accusative.
I thought karsia meant 'to prune'. How does it fit into a sentence about items?
You are correct! Its literal meaning is to prune or trim branches from a tree. However, in everyday Finnish, karsia is widely used metaphorically to mean decluttering, cutting back, or eliminating unnecessary things—whether that means throwing out old belongings, cutting household expenses, or editing down an essay.
Why is the verb in the form kannata instead of kannattaa?
Because the sentence is a negative question. The negative verb ei takes the question particle -kö, forming Eikö. In negative clauses, the main verb always drops its personal ending, which leaves the base connegative stem kannata.
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