Breakdown of Herttua paljasti kreivin. Tämä oli suunnitellut maanpetosta.
tämä
this
olla
to be
suunnitella
to plan
paljastaa
to reveal
Questions & Answers about Herttua paljasti kreivin. Tämä oli suunnitellut maanpetosta.
Why is tämä used here instead of hän?
In written Finnish, tämä refers to the last-mentioned noun in the previous clause (here, the object kreivin), working just like 'the latter' in English. If the sentence used hän, it would point back to the main subject of the previous sentence, meaning the duke (herttua) had planned the treason!
Why is kreivin in the genitive-looking accusative case?
Because paljasti (exposed) is a completed action. The duke did not just expose a part of the count; he exposed him completely. Therefore, the object takes the total object case, which looks like the genitive for singular nouns.
Why use the past perfect oli suunnitellut instead of the regular past tense?
The past perfect (plusquamperfect) shows that the planning happened before the exposing. The count had already planned the treason before the duke found out and exposed him.
Why is maanpetosta in the partitive case?
The verb suunnitella (to plan) takes a partitive object. Planning is conceptually an ongoing, open-ended, or abstract process, so the partitive is used to express that the action is not a physically completed whole.