Word
Aineellinen omaisuus ei kiinnostanut häntä, itseilmaisu taas oli tärkeää.
Meaning
Material property did not interest him, whereas self-expression was important.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Aineellinen omaisuus ei kiinnostanut häntä, itseilmaisu taas oli tärkeää.
olla
to be
hän
he / she
ei
no / not (negative verb)
tärkeä
important
Questions & Answers about Aineellinen omaisuus ei kiinnostanut häntä, itseilmaisu taas oli tärkeää.
Why is taas placed after itseilmaisu instead of at the beginning of the second clause?
When taas is used to mean "whereas" or "on the other hand" to contrast two things, it typically doesn't start the clause. Instead, it is placed immediately after the specific topic being contrasted, which is itseilmaisu here. If you placed it at the very beginning of the clause, it would more likely be interpreted as its other common meaning, "again".
Why is the object häntä in the partitive case here?
The verb kiinnostaa (to interest) is a verb of emotion or feeling. In Finnish, verbs that express evoking an emotion or causing a psychological state always require their object to be in the partitive case.
Why does the sentence use the partitive tärkeää instead of the nominative tärkeä?
In a sentence structured as "subject + is + adjective", the adjective takes the partitive case if the subject is an abstract, uncountable concept. Since itseilmaisu (self-expression) is an abstract idea rather than a distinct, countable object, the describing adjective tärkeää must be in the partitive.
How is the word itseilmaisu formed?
It is a compound of the pronoun itse (self) and the noun ilmaisu (expression). The noun ilmaisu itself is derived from the verb ilmaista, which means to express or to state.