Breakdown of Hän tutkii Aasian toiseksi suurinta aavikkoa sen sijaan, että hän tutkisi vuoria.
hän
he / she
toinen
other, another; second
Aasia
Asia
tutkia
to explore / to investigate / examine
vuori
mountain
suuri
large, great
sen sijaan että
instead of
aavikko
desert
Questions & Answers about Hän tutkii Aasian toiseksi suurinta aavikkoa sen sijaan, että hän tutkisi vuoria.
Why is the translative case used for toiseksi in the phrase Aasian toiseksi suurinta?
In Finnish, ranking superlatives (like second largest or third fastest) are formed by putting the ordinal number in the translative case, ending in -ksi. You can think of toiseksi suurinta as meaning 'largest to the second position'. Notice that while the adjective and noun change cases to fit the rest of the sentence, the translative ordinal toiseksi is locked in and does not change.
Why are suurinta and aavikkoa in the partitive case?
The verb tutkia (to study or research) takes a partitive object when the action is an ongoing, incomplete process. Because he is currently studying the desert, the object aavikkoa and its modifying superlative adjective suurinta must both take the partitive ending -a.
How does the phrase sen sijaan, että work?
This is a fixed conjunction phrase meaning 'instead of'. It literally translates to 'in its place, that'. Remember that Finnish punctuation rules strictly require a comma before the subordinate clause starter että, even when it belongs to a compound phrase like this one.
Why does the second verb change to tutkisi instead of staying as tutkii?
The phrase sen sijaan, että (instead of) requires the verb that follows it to be in the conditional mood, which is marked by the -isi- insert. This logically makes sense because studying the mountains is a hypothetical, unrealized action rather than something he is actually doing.
What form is the word vuoria at the end of the sentence?
It is the plural partitive form of vuori (mountain). Just like the singular desert earlier in the sentence, the mountains are the object of the partitive verb tutkia, so they must be in the partitive case. The plural is used because he is studying 'mountains' in general.
Learn Hän tutkii Aasian toiseksi suurinta aavikkoa sen sijaan, että hän tutkisi vuoria and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free