Televisio jäi valmiustilaan.

The television was left in standby mode.

Breakdown of Televisio jäi valmiustilaan.

• televisio: the television
• jäädä: to be left
• valmiustila: the standby mode

Questions & Answers about Televisio jäi valmiustilaan.

What is the basic form of jäi, and what does it mean here?

Jäi is the past tense of jäädä.

The verb jäädä often means:

• to remain
• to stay
• to be left
• to end up

In this sentence, jäi means that the television remained / was left in standby mode.

A useful comparison:

• Televisio on valmiustilassa. = The TV is in standby mode.
• Televisio jäi valmiustilaan. = The TV ended up / was left in standby mode.

So jäi adds the idea of a result or final state.

Why is it valmiustilaan and not valmiustilassa?

This is a very common question, because English does not mark this difference the same way.

• valmiustilassa = in standby mode (location/state)
• valmiustilaan = into standby mode / to standby mode (change into a state)

Here, Finnish uses valmiustilaan because the sentence describes the TV ending up in that state.

So:

• Televisio on valmiustilassa. = The TV is in standby mode.
• Televisio jäi valmiustilaan. = The TV was left / ended up in standby mode.

Even though English often says in standby mode in both cases, Finnish distinguishes:

• being in a state
• going into a state

What case is valmiustilaan?