Breakdown of Olen surkea rekrytoinnissa, mikä on suuri ongelma.
olla
to be
ongelma
problem
mikä
which (relative pronoun)
suuri
large, great
surkea
terrible (miserable, pathetic)
rekrytointi
recruitment
Questions & Answers about Olen surkea rekrytoinnissa, mikä on suuri ongelma.
Why is rekrytoinnissa in the inessive case (-ssa) here?
Adjectives that express a level of skill or proficiency, such as hyvä (good), huono (bad), or surkea (terrible), require the inessive case. While English says you are terrible at something, Finnish effectively says you are terrible in it.
Why does the basic word rekrytointi change to rekrytoinnissa with a double N?
This happens because of consonant gradation. The consonant combination nt weakens to nn when you add a suffix that closes the final syllable. Since the inessive ending -ssa closes the syllable, rekrytointi becomes rekrytoinnissa.
Why is the relative pronoun mikä used here instead of joka?
You use joka when you are referring back to a specific noun. However, when you need to refer back to an entire preceding clause or concept, you must use mikä. Here, mikä refers to the whole situation of being terrible at recruitment, not just the word 'recruitment'.
Could I use a verb form here instead of the noun rekrytointi?
Absolutely! As this lesson teaches, you can also use the 4th infinitive inessive (-misessa) for verbs to express competence in an action. If you wanted to say 'I am terrible at recruiting', you would say Olen surkea rekrytoimisessa.
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