Breakdown of Meidän saattaa tehdä mieli roskaruokaa, kuten hampurilaisia ja perunalastuja.
ja
and
me
we
tehdä
to do
mieli
mind / opinion (mind, mood)
kuten
like, as
saattaa
may, might
hampurilainen
hamburger
roskaruoka
junk food
perunalastu
potato chip
Questions & Answers about Meidän saattaa tehdä mieli roskaruokaa, kuten hampurilaisia ja perunalastuja.
Why is the verb tehdä in the infinitive here instead of the conjugated form tekee?
In this sentence, the craving structure (tekee mieli) is combined with the modal verb saattaa (might). Modal verbs force the following verb into the first infinitive, so the usual tekee mieli becomes tehdä mieli.
Why is the modal verb saattaa in the 3rd person singular instead of matching 'we' (saatamme)?
The craving structure (mielitekorakenne) is an impersonal construction. The experiencer of the feeling is in the genitive case (meidän), which acts as a modifier, not the grammatical subject. Because there is no nominative subject, the main conjugated verb—in this case, saattaa—must default to the 3rd person singular.
Why are hampurilaisia and perunalastuja in the plural partitive?
They are listed as examples of the main object of desire, roskaruokaa (junk food), which is in the singular partitive. When you use kuten (such as) to list examples, the items must match the grammatical case of the word they refer back to. They are in the plural partitive here because hamburgers and chips are typically treated as countable plurals.
If I wanted to specify craving 'to eat' junk food, where would the verb go?
You would place the first infinitive syödä immediately after the desire expression, making it Meidän saattaa tehdä mieli syödä roskaruokaa. The craving structure allows chaining an action verb directly after mieli.
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