Word
Miksi jätit projektin keskeneräiseksi?
Meaning
Why did you leave the project unfinished?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Miksi jätit projektin keskeneräiseksi?
miksi
why
jättää
to leave (something behind)
projekti
project
keskeneräinen
unfinished
Questions & Answers about Miksi jätit projektin keskeneräiseksi?
Why does the word for unfinished take the translative ending -ksi (keskeneräiseksi)?
This is the core rection rule for the verb jättää (to leave something in a state). When you leave an object in a certain condition, that resulting state must be in the translative case. Here, the project is left in the state of being unfinished (keskeneräinen becomes keskeneräiseksi).
If I wanted to say 'The project remained unfinished', how would the sentence change?
You would use the intransitive verb jäädä (to remain) instead of the transitive jättää (to leave something). The sentence would be Projekti jäi keskeneräiseksi. Notice that the subject is now the project, but the condition (keskeneräiseksi) still takes the translative case!
Why is the object projektin in the genitive-like accusative rather than the partitive (projektia)?
The action of leaving the project in this state is viewed as a completed, total action affecting the entire project. If the sentence were negative, the action wouldn't be completed, and you would use the partitive instead: Miksi et jättänyt projektia keskeneräiseksi?
What is the literal makeup of the word keskeneräinen?
It is built from the adverb kesken (in the middle of, interrupted) and the adjective suffix -eräinen (related to erä, meaning a batch or round). Together, it describes something that is incomplete or left halfway done.