Breakdown of Keisari epäili ministeriä. Tämä oli syyllinen maanpetokseen.
tämä
this
olla
to be
epäillä
to doubt
syyllinen
guilty
keisari
emperor
ministeri
minister
maanpetos
treason
Questions & Answers about Keisari epäili ministeriä. Tämä oli syyllinen maanpetokseen.
Why is the pronoun tämä used here instead of hän for a person?
In sequential sentences, tämä (literally "this") refers to the most recently mentioned person—in this case, the object of the previous sentence, ministeriä (the minister). It functions like the English phrase "the latter".
What would the sentence mean if it used hän instead?
If you used hän, it would refer back to the main subject of the previous sentence, meaning the emperor (keisari) was the one guilty of treason. Using tämä cleanly assigns the guilt to the minister instead.
Why is the minister in the partitive case (ministeriä)?
The verb epäillä (to suspect or doubt) is a partitive verb. Because suspecting is an ongoing state of mind or feeling rather than a completed physical action, its object must take the partitive case.
Why does "guilty of treason" translate to syyllinen maanpetokseen, using the illative case?
In Finnish, certain adjectives require specific cases for the words attached to them. The adjective syyllinen (guilty) always requires the illative case (the "into" case, ending here in -en), so someone is literally guilty "into" a crime.
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