Breakdown of Kampaaja vaalentaa hiukset, joskin se voi huonontaa niiden laatua.
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
ne
they / those (non-human) / they (of people)
voida
can, to be able to
laatu
the quality
kampaaja
the hairdresser
hius
the hair (single strand)
joskin
although / albeit (formal)
vaalentaa
to lighten
huonontaa
to worsen (make worse)
Questions & Answers about Kampaaja vaalentaa hiukset, joskin se voi huonontaa niiden laatua.
How do the verbs vaalentaa and huonontaa demonstrate this lesson's derivation rules?
Both verbs use the transitivizing suffix -ntaa / -ntää to turn an adjective into an active verb that means "to make [adjective]." Here, vaalea (light/blonde) becomes vaalentaa (to make lighter), and huono (bad) becomes huonontaa (to make worse).
Why is the object of the first clause (hiukset) in the nominative plural, but the object of the second clause (laatua) in the partitive?
Hiukset takes the nominative plural (the standard total object form for plurals) because the lightening is viewed as a completed, intentional action done to the whole head of hair. Laatua is partitive because "quality" is an abstract, uncountable concept, and the worsening is an indefinite change in degree.
What is the exact meaning of joskin, and is it different from vaikka?
Joskin means "although" or "albeit." It functions very similarly to vaikka (even though) but is slightly more formal. It is typically used to introduce a contrasting fact, side note, or concession attached to the main statement.
What exactly does the pronoun se refer to in the second clause?
Se refers to the entire action of the previous clause—the process of lightening the hair. If it referred to the hairdresser, it would be hän, and if it referred to the hair itself, it would be the plural ne.
Why does the sentence use the plural pronoun niiden (their) instead of a singular pronoun?
Niiden is the genitive plural of ne (they). It refers back to hiukset, which is a grammatically plural word in Finnish, even though we translate it as the singular uncountable "hair" in English.
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