En nähnyt työnantajaa eilen, koska hän oli matkalla toiseen kaupunkiin.

to be

Breakdown of En nähnyt työnantajaa eilen, koska hän oli matkalla toiseen kaupunkiin.

• hän: he/she
• koska: because
• eilen: yesterday
• toinen: another
• kaupunki: the city
• nähdä: to see
• en: not
• työnantaja: the employer
• matkalla: on the way

Questions & Answers about En nähnyt työnantajaa eilen, koska hän oli matkalla toiseen kaupunkiin.

Why is työnantajaa in the partitive case rather than a full accusative form?

In Finnish negative sentences, the direct object typically appears in the partitive case even if it would normally be definite. Here, because the sentence is negative (“en nähnyt”), työnantajaa is in the partitive form to reflect that rule.

What role does the negative auxiliary en play in this sentence?

The auxiliary en serves two purposes: it negates the sentence and it is conjugated for the first-person singular (meaning “I”). In Finnish negative constructions, the main verb appears in a non-finite form (here, nähnyt) after the auxiliary, which carries the subject’s information.

Why is the subject ("I") not explicitly stated in the sentence?

Finnish often drops the subject pronoun because the conjugated verb (or negative auxiliary) already makes the subject clear. In this sentence, en indicates a first-person singular subject, so there’s no need to include an explicit minä (“I”).

How does the sentence show the reason for not seeing the employer?

The reason is introduced by koska, which means “because.” The subordinate clause "hän oli matkalla toiseen kaupunkiin" explains why the employer was not seen, providing a clear causal connection.

What does matkalla mean, and what case is it using?

Matkalla translates as “on the way” or “in transit.” It is formed in the adessive case (marked by the suffix -lla), which in this context expresses a state or location—in this case, that he was traveling.

Why is toiseen kaupunkiin in the illative case, and what does it indicate?

The illative case is used in Finnish to denote motion toward a destination. In toiseen kaupunkiin, toiseen is the illative form of toinen (“another”) and kaupunkiin is the illative of kaupunki (“city”), together conveying that he was headed “to another city.”

Why is the time adverb eilen placed after the object rather than at the beginning of the sentence?

Finnish word order is flexible. Adverbs like eilen (“yesterday”) can be positioned in various places without changing the meaning. In this case, placing it after the object feels natural and clearly sets the time of the action.