Breakdown of Emme antaneet hakkerin varastaa tietoja.
ei
no / not (negative verb)
varastaa
to steal
tieto
information, knowledge
antaa
to let / to allow
hakkeri
hacker
Questions & Answers about Emme antaneet hakkerin varastaa tietoja.
Why is the hacker in the genitive case (hakkerin) rather than the nominative?
This is the specific rule for permission verbs like antaa (to let) and sallia (to allow). The person who is allowed to do the action acts as the subject of the following infinitive verb (here, varastaa). In Finnish, this infinitive subject must be in the genitive case.
Would hakkerin ever change to the partitive case because the sentence is negative (emme antaneet)?
No, it stays in the genitive. While negation usually forces the object of a sentence into the partitive, hakkerin is functioning as the subject of the infinitive varastaa, not the object of antaa. The rule for genitive subjects with permission verbs applies regardless of whether the main verb is positive or negative.
Why is the data, tietoja, in the partitive plural?
tietoja is the direct object of the stealing action. Because the main sentence is negative (emme antaneet), the object must be in the partitive case. It is in the plural form because the word for a piece of information (tieto) is usually pluralized when talking about data as a mass.
Why is the main verb written as antaneet instead of antanut?
In negative past tense sentences, the main verb becomes a participle that must agree with the subject in number. Because the subject is 'we' (shown by emme), the participle takes the plural form antaneet. If the subject were singular, such as 'I didn't let', it would be en antanut.
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