Breakdown of Sinun kannattaa olla varovainen, kun käytät tätä kampea.
tämä
this
olla
to be
sinä
you
kun
when (conjunction)
käyttää
to use
kannattaa
to be profitable / to be worth it
varovainen
careful (cautious)
kampi
crank
Questions & Answers about Sinun kannattaa olla varovainen, kun käytät tätä kampea.
Why is "you" expressed as sinun instead of sinä?
The verb kannattaa (to be worthwhile) works just like necessity verbs such as täytyy or pitää. In this structure, the person who "should" do the action must be in the genitive case. Literally, the sentence means "It is worthwhile of you to be careful."
Why are we using the basic infinitive olla rather than conjugating it?
Because it follows kannattaa. In this sentence structure, kannattaa acts as the conjugated main verb (always fixed in the 3rd person singular), and the action being recommended must stay in its basic dictionary form.
Why is the object tätä kampea in the partitive case?
What is the base form of kampea, and why does it change this way?
The base form is kampi (crank). Because it is an older Finnish word ending in -i, the stem changes the -i to an -e- before you attach the partitive ending -a, resulting in kampea.
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