Breakdown of Diplomaattinen kriisi on parhaillaan pahenemassa.
olla
to be
pahentua
to worsen
kriisi
crisis
parhaillaan
currently
Questions & Answers about Diplomaattinen kriisi on parhaillaan pahenemassa.
Why use the form on pahenemassa instead of just the regular present tense pahenee (gets worse)?
on pahenemassa is the Finnish progressive construction, formed with the verb olla and the third infinitive inessive (ending in -massa or -mässä). While kriisi pahenee just means "the crisis worsens" as a general fact or future trend, using on pahenemassa emphasizes the ongoing, continuous process happening right at this very moment.
What is the base verb for pahenemassa, and how does it relate to the adjective paha (bad)?
The base verb is paheta (to get worse). It is a change-of-state verb derived directly from the adjective paha (bad). In Finnish, verbs ending in -eta / -etä frequently describe something turning into the state of the root adjective, so paheta literally means "to become bad" or "to worsen".
The word parhaillaan translates to "currently", but it looks like it comes from the word for "best" (paras). How does that work?
You spotted it! Parhaillaan is formed from the adessive plural of paras (parhailla) plus a possessive suffix (-an). Literally, it means "at its best." In Finnish, this expression has evolved into a common adverb meaning "currently" or "right now," often implying that an action is currently at its peak intensity.
Since parhaillaan has the third-person possessive suffix -an, would it change if the subject of the sentence was "I" or "you"?