He eivät halua taistella.

to want

Breakdown of He eivät halua taistella.

• ei: not
• he: they
• taistella: to fight

Questions & Answers about He eivät halua taistella.

Why does he mean they here? Doesn’t he mean he?

In Finnish, he means they.

This is a very common beginner confusion because it looks like the English word he, but it is completely unrelated in meaning.

• he = they
• hän = he / she

So in He eivät halua taistella, the subject is plural: they.

What part of the sentence is the negation?

The negation is eivät.

Finnish usually makes negative sentences with a special negative verb, which changes according to the subject.

Here:

• he = they
• eivät = do not / are not, for they
• halua = want
• taistella = to fight

So literally the structure is something like:

• they + not + want + to fight

Why is it eivät halua and not eivät haluavat?