Breakdown of Taikina saattaa kohota yli reunan ja mennä hukkaan.
ja
and
mennä
to go
yli
past / over / across
saattaa
may, might
taikina
dough
reuna
edge
kohota
to rise
hukkaan
to waste (e.g., to go to waste)
Questions & Answers about Taikina saattaa kohota yli reunan ja mennä hukkaan.
Why does 'go to waste' translate to mennä hukkaan with the word in the illative (into) case?
This is a fixed idiom for a state change. The verb mennä (to go) is often used with an abstract noun in the illative case to describe a change in physical or abstract condition. Here, hukkaan is the illative of hukka (loss or waste), so it perfectly matches the pattern of entering a new state.
I have learned that hukka means 'wolf'. Is that related to mennä hukkaan?
Yes! In old Finnish agricultural society, if livestock or food was lost to the forest, it literally went to the wolf (hukkaan). Over time, the phrase broadened to mean going to waste or being completely lost, even when it is just dough escaping a bowl.
Why is it yli reunan instead of reunan yli?
The word yli (over) is flexible and can act as either a preposition (yli reunan) or a postposition (reunan yli). Both require the genitive case (reunan) and mean the exact same thing here. Prepositions are sometimes preferred when emphasizing the direction of a dynamic movement.
Why is mennä in its basic dictionary form here instead of being conjugated?
It shares the auxiliary verb saattaa (might) with the earlier verb kohota. The sentence structure is essentially 'might rise and [might] go'. Since saattaa requires the first infinitive, both kohota and mennä take that form.
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