Breakdown of Varovaisuus on tärkeää, joten älä koske karsinaan.
olla
to be
tärkeä
important
älä
don't (negative imperative)
koskea
to touch
Questions & Answers about Varovaisuus on tärkeää, joten älä koske karsinaan.
Why does this sentence use the illative case karsinaan with the verb koskea?
This is the core rule for koskea: it changes meaning depending on the case it governs. With the illative case (into something, like karsinaan), it means "to physically touch". If you used the partitive case (karsinaa), it would mean "to concern" or "to apply to" the animal pen, which does not fit the context.
Why is the adjective tärkeä in the partitive case (tärkeää)?
In "A is B" sentences, the predicative adjective describing the subject must be in the partitive if the subject is an uncountable mass noun or an abstract concept. Since varovaisuus (caution) is an abstract concept, tärkeä takes the partitive ending.
Why use älä koske instead of et koske?
This is a command ("do not touch"), which requires the imperative mood. Älä is the imperative form of the negative verb for "you" (singular), followed by the connegative form koske. If you said et koske, it would just be a statement of fact: "you do not touch".
How is the noun varovaisuus formed?
It is derived from the adjective varovainen (careful or cautious). In Finnish, replacing the -nen ending of an adjective with -suus turns it into an abstract noun, giving us varovaisuus (caution or carefulness).