Question 1

Why is rajaa in the partitive case here instead of the genitive?

Accepted Answer

Because lähellä is functioning as a preposition here (coming before the noun). When lähellä acts as a preposition, the noun that follows must be in the partitive case (lähellä rajaa). You could also use it as a postposition, where the noun comes first in the genitive case (rajan lähellä). Both structures mean exactly the same thing!

Question 2

Is aivan liian a standard phrase for "way too"?

Accepted Answer

Yes! While liian alone means "too", pairing it with aivan (quite/completely) is a very common fixed expression to emphasize that something exceeds a limit by a lot. It translates perfectly to "way too" or "altogether too" in English.

Question 3

Since we are learning about omitted pronouns, if I wanted to say it's close to their border, could I just say lähellä rajaansa?

Accepted Answer

No, because the possessive suffix -nsa reflects back to the subject of the sentence. If you said Trampoliini on aivan liian lähellä rajaansa, grammatically the border would belong to the trampoline itself! To show the border belongs to a third party (like the neighbors), you must explicitly include their genitive pronoun: heidän rajaansa.

Question 4

Is the -llä ending on lähellä the adessive case suffix?

Accepted Answer

Exactly. It comes from the root lähi- (near). Even though it functions as a preposition here, it still inflects for direction like a location noun. Because the trampoline is stationary, it's in the static adessive case (lähellä). If you were moving the trampoline close to the border, you would use the allative "to" case: lähelle rajaa.

Trampoliini on aivan liian lähellä rajaa.

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