Breakdown of Annoitko sovelluksen rikkoa yksityisyyttäsi?
rikkoa
to break
sovellus
app
antaa
to let / to allow
yksityisyys
privacy
Questions & Answers about Annoitko sovelluksen rikkoa yksityisyyttäsi?
Why is sovelluksen (the app) in the genitive case here?
This is the core rule for verbs of permission like antaa (to let) and sallia (to allow). When you say you let someone or something do an action, that person or thing acts as the subject of the infinitive verb and must be in the genitive case. So, you letting 'the app break' becomes annoitko sovelluksen rikkoa.
I originally learned antaa as 'to give'. How do I know it means 'to let' in this sentence?
Whenever antaa is followed by a genitive subject and a first infinitive (in this case, sovelluksen + rikkoa), the meaning automatically shifts from 'to give' to 'to let' or 'to allow'. This structure is the most common way to express letting someone do something in Finnish.
Why is the object yksityisyyttäsi in the partitive case?
The verb rikkoa means 'to break' or 'to violate'. When you break an abstract concept like privacy, rather than a physical object where the result is absolute (like breaking a glass), the action is treated as partial or ongoing, which requires the partitive case.
Can you break down the word yksityisyyttäsi?
The base word is yksityisyys (privacy). Nouns ending in -yys change to -yyttä in the partitive case. Finally, the 2nd person singular possessive suffix -si (your) is attached to the end, resulting in yksityisyyttäsi.