Breakdown of Seinä, josta tippukivi riippuu, on todella kostea.
olla
to be
seinä
wall
joka
who / which (relative pronoun)
todella
really (very, intensifier)
Questions & Answers about Seinä, josta tippukivi riippuu, on todella kostea.
Why does this sentence use josta instead of mistä for 'from which'?
In standard written Finnish, the relative pronoun joka (here in the elative case, josta) is strictly used when referring back to a specific physical antecedent, which in this case is the noun seinä. While you will frequently hear mistä used for physical locations in casual spoken Finnish, standard grammar requires the joka family for concrete physical nouns.
Why is josta in the elative case (-sta) rather than the ablative (-lta) if the stalactite is hanging off the wall?
The verb riippua (to hang) typically takes the elative case to express what something is hanging from. While English says hanging 'on' or 'off' a surface, Finnish treats the point of attachment as an origin point out of which the object hangs. As a B2 learner, you might also remember that riippua + elative is used metaphorically to mean 'to depend on'.
How does the word tippukivi literally translate?
It is a compound of tippu (from tippua, to drip) and kivi (stone), literally meaning 'dripstone'. Finnish uses this single word for both stalactites and stalagmites. You rely on the context or the verb, like riippuu (hangs) in this sentence, to know which one it is.
Are the commas around the relative clause josta tippukivi riippuu strictly necessary?