Breakdown of Lopullinen päätelmä osoittautui harhaanjohtavaksi.
lopullinen
final
osoittautua
to turn out to be
harhaanjohtava
misleading
päätelmä
the conclusion
Questions & Answers about Lopullinen päätelmä osoittautui harhaanjohtavaksi.
Why is harhaanjohtavaksi in the translative case rather than nominative or partitive?
The verb osoittautua (to turn out to be) specifically requires this. It governs the translative case (-ksi) for the adjective or noun describing the outcome. Even though in English we say 'turned out to be misleading' using a normal adjective, Finnish uses the translative to express the state that something is finally revealed or discovered to be.
How exactly is the word harhaanjohtavaksi constructed?
The base word is harhaanjohtava, which is a compound of harhaan (the illative form of harha, meaning 'astray' or 'illusion') and johtava (the present active participle of johtaa, meaning 'leading'). Literally, it means 'leading astray'. To fit the sentence's grammar, the translative ending -ksi is added to the end.
Why use päätelmä here instead of the more common word päätös?
While both can translate to 'conclusion' in English, they are fundamentally different. Päätelmä specifically means a logical deduction or inference (from the verb päätellä, to deduce). Päätös means a choice or resolution you make (from päättää, to decide). Here, someone made a logical deduction that turned out to be flawed.
The verb osoittautui looks very similar to osoittaa (to show / to point). What is the relationship?
Osoittautua is the reflexive or automative version of osoittaa. While osoittaa requires an object (you show or point at something), the -utu- suffix in osoittautua turns the action back on the subject. So, instead of 'showing something', the conclusion 'shows itself' to be something, which translates naturally to English as 'turns out to be'.
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