Breakdown of Näissä eletään sovussa ja yhteisöllisyys on vahva.
tämä
this
olla
to be
ja
and
vahva
strong
elää
to live, to be alive
sopu
harmony
yhteisöllisyys
sense of community
Questions & Answers about Näissä eletään sovussa ja yhteisöllisyys on vahva.
How does eletään work here if the verb to live doesn't take an object?
Usually, we think of the passive for actions done to an object. However, in Finnish, you can passivize intransitive verbs (verbs without an object) to express a general state where people do something or one does something. Here, eletään means people live or one lives in a general, collective sense.
Why does the sentence use näissä (in these) instead of just saying täällä (here)?
Näissä is the inessive plural of tämä (this). This sentence is clearly pulled from a larger context, referring back to specific plural places mentioned just before, like in these villages or in these buildings. Using täällä would just mean here without linking back to those specific nouns.
Why is sopu (harmony) in the inessive case (sovussa)?
The inessive case (-ssa/-ssä) is often used to describe abstract states of being, not just physical locations. Sovussa translates naturally to in harmony or at peace. Also note the consonant gradation: the strong p in the basic form sopu weakens to a v in a closed syllable.
How is the long word yhteisöllisyys (sense of community) constructed?
It is built through a classic chain of Finnish suffixes. It starts with yhteisö (community). Adding the adjective suffix -llinen creates yhteisöllinen (communal). Finally, swapping the end for -yys turns it into a noun describing a state or quality, resulting in yhteisöllisyys (communality or sense of community).
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