Question 1

Why does the sentence start with Se, mitä instead of just Mitä for "What"?

Accepted Answer

This is a pseudo-cleft sentence structure. In English, you can start with "What I am escaping..." where "what" acts as the subject of the entire sentence. In Finnish, the main clause needs its own anchor pronoun. Here, Se acts as the subject of the main verb on, and the relative clause mitä pakenen acts as a modifier to define exactly what that Se is.

Question 2

Why is the relative pronoun in the partitive case (mitä) rather than the nominative (mikä)?

Accepted Answer

The case of a relative pronoun is determined by its grammatical role inside the relative clause. The verb paeta (to escape) is a partitive verb, meaning the thing you are escaping must be in the partitive case. Since mitä represents the object being escaped, it takes the partitive form.

Question 3

If paeta requires a partitive object, why are Se and kauhea kaaos in the nominative case?

Accepted Answer

Grammatical rules like case requirements don't bleed across clause boundaries. The verb paeta only governs the relative clause (mitä pakenen). The main clause is simply Se on kauhea kaaos (It is terrible chaos). In this main clause, Se is the nominative subject, and kauhea kaaos is its nominative complement (predicative).

Question 4

Are both commas around mitä pakenen actually required?

Accepted Answer

Yes, they are mandatory. Unlike English, Finnish punctuation rules strictly require all relative clauses to be separated by commas. Because the relative clause mitä pakenen is embedded in the middle of the main clause, it must be bookended by commas to isolate it from the main subject (Se) and the main verb (on).

Se, mitä pakenen, on kauhea kaaos.

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