Breakdown of On mahdotonta ennakoida kaikkea mahdollisimman hyvin.
olla
to be
hyvin
well
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
mahdoton
impossible
Questions & Answers about On mahdotonta ennakoida kaikkea mahdollisimman hyvin.
Why is mahdotonta in the partitive case here instead of the nominative mahdoton?
The actual subject of this sentence is the infinitive verb ennakoida (to anticipate). When an adjective acts as a complement describing an infinitive phrase or an abstract concept rather than a concrete noun, Finnish requires it to be in the partitive case.
Why is the object kaikkea in the partitive case instead of the total object form kaiken?
The verb ennakoida (to anticipate) expresses an ongoing, open-ended, or abstract action here. Because you cannot completely 'finish' the act of anticipating everything in a final sense, the object kaikki takes the partitive case kaikkea.
How does the structure mahdollisimman hyvin work to mean 'as well as possible'?
To say 'as [adverb] as possible', Finnish uses the word mahdollisimman followed by the basic adverb, which in this case is hyvin (well). The word mahdollisimman is actually the genitive form of the superlative adjective mahdollisin (the most possible).
Since we are learning about wishes, how would I change this sentence to say 'If only it were possible to anticipate everything!'?
You would use the particle kunpa (if only) followed by the verb in the conditional mood: Kunpa olisi mahdollista ennakoida kaikkea! Notice that the adjective becomes mahdollista, but it remains in the partitive case because the subject is still the infinitive ennakoida.