Breakdown of Uskon, että pyörremyrsky voimistuu nopeammin kuin kukaan odottaa.
nopeasti
fast
odottaa
to wait
että
that (conjunction)
kukaan
anyone, nobody (with negation)
Questions & Answers about Uskon, että pyörremyrsky voimistuu nopeammin kuin kukaan odottaa.
Doesn't kukaan usually mean 'no one' and require a negative verb? Why is it translated as 'anyone' here?
You are right that kukaan is primarily a negative pronoun used with a negative verb. However, in specific affirmative contexts like comparisons using kuin (than), conditional clauses with jos (if), or indirect questions, negative polarity pronouns like kukaan and mikään are used to mean 'anyone' or 'anything'. Because of the comparison context here, kuin kukaan translates to 'than anyone'.
How is the verb voimistuu formed, and what does it literally mean?
It comes from the noun voima (strength). By adding the suffix -istu-, it becomes the automative verb voimistua, which means 'to get stronger' or 'to intensify' on its own without an outside agent. This suffix is a common way in Finnish to turn a noun or adjective into a verb describing a change in state.
Why use nopeammin here instead of nopeampi?
Nopeammin is the comparative form of the adverb nopeasti (fast or quickly), so it describes the verb voimistuu to explain how the tornado intensifies. Nopeampi is the comparative form of the adjective nopea, which you would use to describe a noun, such as a faster tornado (nopeampi pyörremyrsky).
What are the parts of the compound word pyörremyrsky?