Breakdown of Sanottaisiinkohan, että peli on vain tuurikauppaa?
olla
to be
sanoa
to say
vain
only
peli
game
että
that (conjunction)
tuurikauppa
matter of luck
Questions & Answers about Sanottaisiinkohan, että peli on vain tuurikauppaa?
How do the suffixes stack up in sanottaisiinkohan according to the rules of verbal morphotactics?
The suffixes attach in the exact strict order taught in this lesson: Stem + Passive + Mood + Person + Clitics. It breaks down as sano- (verb stem) + -tta- (passive marker) + -isi- (conditional mood, 'would') + -in (passive personal ending) + -ko- (question particle) + -han (softening particle meaning 'I wonder'). The clitics always go at the very end of the entire chain.
If the basic passive of sanoa is sanotaan with one 't', why does sanottaisiinkohan have two 't's (-tta-)?
For Type 1 verbs like sanoa, the present passive uses a single 't' (sanotaan). However, the passive past (sanottiin) and passive conditional (sanottaisiin) require a double 't' (-tta-). This is a specific morphological quirk of Type 1 verbs you have to apply before adding the rest of your suffix stack.
Could I swap the order of the clitics at the end and say sanottaisiinHANKO?
No, enclitic particles have their own strict internal hierarchy at the end of a word. The question particle -ko/-kö must attach before the softening or emphasizing particle -han/-hän. Therefore, the combination must be -kohan, never -hanko.
Why is tuurikauppaa in the partitive case here?
Tuurikauppa (literally 'luck trade') is an idiom meaning 'a matter of luck' or 'a game of chance'. Here it acts as a subject complement describing the game. Because 'a matter of luck' is an abstract, uncountable concept rather than a specific, countable physical object, it takes the partitive ending -a.
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