Word
Kaikki tietävät, että muusikko on lahjakas.
Meaning
Everyone knows that the musician is gifted.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kaikki tietävät, että muusikko on lahjakas.
olla
to be
tietää
to know
että
that (conjunction)
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
Questions & Answers about Kaikki tietävät, että muusikko on lahjakas.
How does the suffix -kas work in the word lahjakas?
It attaches to the noun lahja, which means "gift" or "present". The suffix -kas (or -käs, depending on vowel harmony) is used to show that someone or something has an abundance of a certain quality. Just like in English, having an abundance of "gifts" makes someone lahjakas (gifted or talented).
How would the word lahjakas change if we wanted to say "of the gifted musician" (using the genitive case)?
Adjectives ending in -kas undergo a significant stem change before adding most case endings: the -kas turns into -kkaa-. To form the genitive, you add the -n to this new stem, making it lahjakkaan. Therefore, "of the gifted musician" would be lahjakkaan muusikon.
In English we say "Everyone knows" with a singular verb. Why does this sentence use the plural verb tietävät?
This is a common trap for English speakers! While "everyone" takes a singular verb in English, the Finnish pronoun kaikki (everyone/all) functions grammatically as a plural word when it refers to a group of people. Therefore, it requires the plural "they" form of the verb: tietävät.