Breakdown of Lautakunta käyttää omaa harkintaa kriteerien ohella.
käyttää
to use
oma
own
kriteeri
the criterion
ohella
alongside / in addition to
Questions & Answers about Lautakunta käyttää omaa harkintaa kriteerien ohella.
Why does the word kriteeri appear as kriteerien before ohella?
The word ohella (alongside / in addition to) is a postposition. Like most postpositions in Finnish, it requires the preceding word to be in the genitive case. Since there are multiple criteria, we use the plural genitive form kriteerien.
Could I use the more common word lisäksi instead of ohella in this sentence?
Yes, you could say kriteerien lisäksi (in addition to the criteria). Both words act as postpositions requiring the genitive case. However, ohella has a slightly more formal nuance of things existing or operating side-by-side, which fits perfectly with administrative language involving a board (lautakunta).
Why is the object omaa harkintaa in the partitive case rather than the total object form oman harkinnan?
The verb käyttää (to use) takes a partitive object when the thing being used is abstract or uncountable. Since consideration or discretion (harkinta) is an abstract concept, the partitive forms omaa harkintaa must be used here.
In this context, does harkinta just mean ordinary consideration?