On etuoikeus kuulla hänen lupauksensa auttaa meitä.
It is a privilege to hear his promise to help us.
Breakdown of On etuoikeus kuulla hänen lupauksensa auttaa meitä.
olla
to be
hän
he / she
me
we
auttaa
to help
Questions & Answers about On etuoikeus kuulla hänen lupauksensa auttaa meitä.
How does the grammar work in lupauksensa auttaa (his promise to help)?
This is a perfect example of this lesson's topic! The abstract noun lupaus (promise) governs the first infinitive auttaa (to help). Just like in English, many Finnish abstract nouns expressing intentions, rights, or obligations can take a 1st infinitive directly after them to explain what the noun refers to.
Why isn't the object of kuulla (to hear) in the genitive case, like lupauksen?
It actually is based on the genitive! As a total object, "promise" would normally be the genitive lupauksen. However, when you add the 3rd person possessive suffix -nsa, the genitive -n is always dropped. So, lupauksen + -nsa shrinks into lupauksensa.
Is kuulla (to hear) also an infinitival complement to the abstract noun etuoikeus (privilege)?
It looks very similar, but structurally kuulla acts as the subject of the sentence here. The Finnish structure on + [noun/adjective] + [1st infinitive] translates to "it is [noun/adjective] to [verb]". Literally, the sentence is saying "To hear his promise... is a privilege."
Just a quick refresher: why does auttaa (to help) take the partitive object meitä?
Because auttaa is a partitive verb. This means any object you attach to it must always be in the partitive case, like meitä (us), regardless of the wider sentence structure.