Breakdown of Hyvinvointivaltio huolehtii siitä, että sairaat ja työttömät saavat sosiaaliturvaa.
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
ja
and
sairas
sick
saada
to get
Questions & Answers about Hyvinvointivaltio huolehtii siitä, että sairaat ja työttömät saavat sosiaaliturvaa.
In English, we say "the sick" and "the unemployed". Can any Finnish adjective be used as a noun like sairaat and työttömät here?
Yes, this is a very common structure. You can take almost any adjective, put it in the plural, and use it as a standalone noun to refer to a demographic group. You don't need to add a word like ihmiset (people). Other common examples are nuoret (the youth/young people) and sokeat (the blind).
Why do we need the word siitä before the että clause?
The verb huolehtia (to take care of / to ensure) requires its target to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Because you can't attach a case ending directly to an että (that) clause, Finnish uses the pronoun se in the elative case (siitä) as a placeholder. Literally, it translates to "takes care of it, that..."
Why is sosiaaliturvaa in the partitive case instead of the accusative?
Even though the verb saada (to get/receive) often takes a total object when receiving a specific physical thing, sosiaaliturva (social security) is an abstract, uncountable concept here. Because they are receiving an unmeasured amount of this abstract benefit, the object takes the partitive case.
What is the root of the word työttömät, and why does it change so much from its base form?