Breakdown of Kuulin ohimennen, että he eroavat.
he
they
kuulla
to hear
että
that (conjunction)
erota
to break up
ohimennen
in passing
Questions & Answers about Kuulin ohimennen, että he eroavat.
This lesson focuses on expressing coincidence. How would I rewrite this sentence using sattua (to happen to) instead of the adverb ohimennen?
You would conjugate sattua in the past tense (satuin) and put the main verb kuulla into the -maan/-mään form, just like the lesson's example of näkemään. The sentence becomes: Satuin kuulemaan, että he eroavat. (I happened to hear that they are getting a divorce).
Where does the word ohimennen (in passing) come from?
It is a compound of ohi (past/by) and mennen. Mennen is a specific verb form (the instructive form) of mennä (to go), which describes the manner in which an action is done. Literally, the word means 'going past', which perfectly matches the English idiom 'in passing'.
Why is eroavat in the present tense if the main verb kuulin is in the past tense?
In English reported speech, we usually shift the tense backwards to match the main verb ('I heard they were getting a divorce'). Finnish is more literal: because the act of divorcing was currently happening at the time you heard about it, the subordinate että clause simply keeps the present tense.
The translation says they are getting a divorce. Does erota always mean to divorce?
Not always, though it is the standard word for it when discussing relationships. The core meaning of erota is 'to separate' or 'to part'. At the B2 level, you will also frequently see it used to mean resigning from a job (hän erosi työstään) or differing from something (se eroaa muista).
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