Word
Nainen kertoi ongelmastaan sovittelijalle.
Meaning
The woman told the mediator about her problem.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Nainen kertoi ongelmastaan sovittelijalle.
nainen
woman
ongelma
problem
kertoa
to tell
sovittelija
mediator
Questions & Answers about Nainen kertoi ongelmastaan sovittelijalle.
Why is there no hänen before ongelmastaan?
Because the woman is talking about her own problem. In Finnish, when the 3rd-person subject of the sentence is also the owner of the noun, you must omit the pronoun hänen and only use the possessive suffix (here, -an). If you included the word hänen, the sentence would mean she was talking about another person's problem!
Why does ongelma take the elative ending -sta here?
The verb kertoa (to tell) requires the elative case (-sta/-stä) when expressing what you are telling about. So telling about a problem becomes kertoa ongelmasta.
In the word ongelmastaan, what is the exact breakdown of the suffixes?
Finnish adds the case ending before the possessive suffix. It breaks down as the base word ongelma (problem) + the elative ending -sta (about) + the 3rd-person possessive suffix -an (her).
Why is sovittelija in the allative case (sovittelijalle)?
With the verb kertoa, the person receiving the information takes the allative case (-lle), much like directing speech to or onto someone.