Breakdown of Johtaja on antanut käskyn poistua, mutta hänellä ei ole toimivaltaa vaatia sitä.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
hän
he / she
mutta
but
ei
no / not (negative verb)
antaa
to give
johtaja
the director
vaatia
to claim (demand)
poistua
to exit
toimivalta
authority (power, jurisdiction)
käsky
order (command)
Questions & Answers about Johtaja on antanut käskyn poistua, mutta hänellä ei ole toimivaltaa vaatia sitä.
Why do the nouns käskyn and toimivaltaa take the 1st infinitive directly after them?
Both käsky (order) and toimivalta (authority) are abstract nouns that can govern a 1st infinitive. Just like in English where you say the order to leave or authority to demand, Finnish uses the basic dictionary form of the verb (poistua, vaatia) to define exactly what the abstract noun entails.
Why is käsky in the genitive-looking accusative form (käskyn) while toimivalta is in the partitive form (toimivaltaa)?
This comes down to their syntactic roles in the sentence. Käskyn is the total object of the affirmative action on antanut, so it takes the accusative form. Toimivaltaa, however, is the thing being possessed in a negative sentence (hänellä ei ole), which always requires the partitive case.
Why is the pronoun se in the partitive form sitä at the end of the sentence?
The pronoun sitä is the object of the verb vaatia (to demand). Because vaatia is a partitive verb, its object must be in the partitive case, regardless of the rest of the sentence's structure.
What is the difference between toimivalta and just valta?
While valta means power in a general or political sense, toimivalta (literally action power) specifically refers to formal competence, jurisdiction, or official authority granted to someone in a specific role, like a manager.
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