Breakdown of Heikompiosaiset voivat auttaa itseään etsimällä uusia voimavaroja.
uusi
new
etsiä
to look for
auttaa
to help
voida
can, to be able to
itse
self, oneself
heikompiosainen
disadvantaged
voimavara
resource (strength, asset, personal resource)
Questions & Answers about Heikompiosaiset voivat auttaa itseään etsimällä uusia voimavaroja.
How is the word heikompiosaiset formed, and how does it act as a noun here?
Heikompiosaiset is built from the adjective heikko-osainen (underprivileged or disadvantaged). It combines the comparative of heikko (heikompi, weaker) with osainen (having a share). In Finnish, you can use plural adjectives independently as nouns to represent a demographic group, just like 'the disadvantaged' in English. The -t suffix makes it a plural nominative subject.
Why is 'themselves' translated as itseään instead of just itse?
The verb auttaa (to help) requires its object to be in the partitive case. Therefore, the base pronoun itse becomes the partitive itseä. To reflect that they are helping themselves, we add the third-person possessive suffix -Vn (where V doubles the previous vowel), resulting in itseään.
What verb form is etsimällä, and how does it mean 'by searching'?
This is the third infinitive (the -ma / -mä form) in the adessive case (the -lla / -llä ending). Using the adessive case on a third infinitive creates a structure that expresses the means or method of an action. It translates perfectly to 'by doing [something]' in English.
Why is the object uusia voimavaroja in the partitive case instead of the accusative?
The verb etsiä (to search for) is a partitive verb, meaning its object must always be in the partitive case. This grammatical rule still applies even when the verb is used in a non-finite form such as etsimällä. Thus, the plural object is the partitive plural uusia voimavaroja.
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