Breakdown of Olemme turhautuneita tähän umpikujaan.
tämä
this
olla
to be
turhautunut
frustrated
umpikuja
dead end
Questions & Answers about Olemme turhautuneita tähän umpikujaan.
Why are tähän umpikujaan in the illative case here instead of a case like elative or adessive?
In English you are frustrated with or by something, but in Finnish, adjectives expressing emotional fatigue or frustration, like turhautunut, require the illative case (the into case). You are essentially frustrated into the dead end.
Why is the adjective turhautuneita in the plural partitive case?
The subject of the sentence is olemme (we), which is plural. When an adjective is used as a predicative adjective to describe a plural subject, it usually must be in the plural partitive case. The base form turhautunut changes to the plural partitive turhautuneita.
If turhautunut comes from a verb, how is it formed?
It is the past active participle (the NUT-participle) of the verb turhautua, which means to become frustrated. Using the NUT-participle as an adjective is very common in Finnish to describe a state resulting from an action, literally translating here to having become frustrated.
What makes up the compound noun umpikuja?
It is made of umpi-, a prefix meaning closed or sealed, and kuja, meaning an alley or lane. Literally a closed alley, it translates perfectly to a dead end. To form the illative case required by the adjective in this sentence, you double the final vowel and add -n, resulting in umpikujaan.