Question 1

How does the word pohjaton (bottomless) become pohjattoman in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

The suffix -ton means "without" (like the English "-less"). When you inflect adjectives ending in -ton or -tön, the base form changes to a strong-grade stem ending in -ttoma- or -ttömä-. Because this sentence requires the genitive case (ending in -n), the stem pohjattoma- takes the -n, resulting in pohjattoman.

Question 2

Why are both pohjattoman and kuilun in the genitive case?

Accepted Answer

They are in the genitive because of the postposition takia (because of). In Finnish, takia requires the word it modifies to be in the genitive case. As an adjective modifying kuilun (of the chasm), pohjattoman must agree with it and take the exact same case ending.

Question 3

Why use pääse (from päästä) here instead of a basic verb like mennä (to go)?

Accepted Answer

While mennä simply means "to go", päästä carries the meaning of "to manage to get somewhere", "to reach", or "to be able to go". Because there is a physical obstacle (the chasm) preventing them from moving forward, emme pääse (we cannot manage to get / we are prevented from going) is much more natural than emme mene (we don't go).

Question 4

The word ollenkaan means "at all". Can it be used in positive sentences too?

Accepted Answer

Ollenkaan is a negative polarity word, meaning it is strictly used in negative sentences. It works perfectly here because it pairs with the negative verb emme (we do not). You will often see it used interchangeably with another negative-only word, lainkaan.

Pohjattoman kuilun takia emme pääse eteenpäin ollenkaan.

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