Breakdown of Vakooja kavalsi ministerin. Tämä yritti salamurhaa.
tämä
this
yrittää
to try
vakooja
spy
ministeri
minister
kavaltaa
to betray (a secret, to the enemy)
salamurha
assassination
Questions & Answers about Vakooja kavalsi ministerin. Tämä yritti salamurhaa.
Why use tämä instead of hän to refer to a person?
In written Finnish, when a sentence introduces two people (like the subject vakooja and the object ministerin), using hän in the next sentence would refer back to the subject. To refer to the other person (the most recently mentioned), we use tämä. Here, it translates neatly to "the latter."
Would the meaning change if the second sentence started with Hän?
Yes, it would completely flip the meaning! If the sentence were Hän yritti salamurhaa, the pronoun would point back to the primary subject of the previous sentence, meaning the spy was the one attempting the assassination.
Why does ministerin have the -n ending rather than being in the partitive?
The verb kavaltaa (to betray) takes a total object here because the act of betrayal was a single, completed action against the minister. Therefore, the object takes the accusative case, which looks like the genitive with its -n ending.
Why is the object salamurhaa in the partitive case?
The verb yrittää (to try or attempt) requires its object to be in the partitive case. Attempting something is viewed grammatically as an ongoing or incomplete action because the outcome is not yet resolved, which automatically triggers the partitive.
How is the word salamurha constructed?
It is a compound word made from sala- (secret, hidden, or stealthy) and murha (murder). You will see sala- used as a prefix in many hidden or illicit concepts, such as salaisuus (a secret) or salakuljettaja (a smuggler).
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