Breakdown of Yrityksen on pakko tyhjentää varasto, jotta muuttofirma voi toimia tehokkaasti.
olla
to be
voida
can, to be able to
toimia
to function, to work / to act
varasto
storage room
Questions & Answers about Yrityksen on pakko tyhjentää varasto, jotta muuttofirma voi toimia tehokkaasti.
Why is the object varasto in the basic nominative form instead of varaston?
This is a key rule for necessity structures. Because the sentence uses the genitive subject yrityksen with the necessity phrase on pakko, the object of the action (varasto) loses its normal genitive-accusative ending. It must be in the basic nominative form. This rule is often called total object case drop.
Why is the subject yrityksen in the genitive case rather than the nominative yritys?
In Finnish, necessity phrases like on pakko (must) or on aika (it is time) require the person or entity doing the action to be in the genitive case. The structure literally translates closer to 'of the company it is a compulsion'.
Could I use että instead of jotta to mean 'so that'?
jotta specifically means 'in order to' or 'so that', showing a clear purpose. While native speakers sometimes use että loosely for this in casual speech, jotta is the correct and precise word for expressing purpose. Using että here would sound grammatically incomplete in written Finnish.
The translation says 'work efficiently', so why use toimia instead of työskennellä?