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Jos sopimus olisi monimutkainen, pyytäisin apua lakimieheltä.

Jos sopimus olisi monimutkainen, pyytäisin apua lakimieheltä.
If the agreement were complicated, I would ask a lawyer for help.
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Questions & Answers about Jos sopimus olisi monimutkainen, pyytäisin apua lakimieheltä.

Why are the verbs olisi and pyytäisin in the conditional mood?

They express a purely hypothetical situation (“would be” / “would ask”). Finnish forms the present conditional (also called conditional I) with the infix -isi-. Here:

  • olla → stem ol-
    • -isi-
      • -(n) → olisi (“would be”)
  • pyytää → stem pyytä-
    • -isi-
      • -n → pyytäisin (“I would ask”)
How exactly do you form that conditional mood on Finnish verbs?
  1. Take the verb stem (for pyytää, drop -ä‬ → pyytä-).
  2. Insert -isi- after the stem.
  3. Add the personal ending (for first-person singular, -n).
    Examples:
    • olla → ol-
      • -isi-
        • - → olisi (3rd sg)
    • pyytää → pyytä-
      • -isi-
        • -n → pyytäisin (1st sg)

What’s the difference between
jos sopimus on monimutkainen, pyydän apua lakimieheltä
and
jos sopimus olisi monimutkainen, pyytäisin apua lakimieheltä?

  • On/pyydän (present indicative) is a “real” or first conditional: if the contract is complicated, I’ll (actually) ask for help.
  • Olisi/pyytäisin (conditional) is a second conditional: an unreal or purely hypothetical scenario—“If the contract were complicated, I would ask.”
Why is apua in the partitive case?
Finnish often uses the partitive for objects that are indefinite or incomplete actions. You’re not asking for all possible help (that would be accusative), but for some help—hence apu → apua.
What does the -lta in lakimieheltä signify?

It’s the elative case, meaning “from.” After verbs like pyytää, the person you’re asking from is marked with -lta/-ltä: lakimies (“lawyer”) → lakimieheltä (“from a lawyer”).

Why is monimutkainen in the nominative case?
After the copula olla (“to be”), predicate adjectives agree with the subject in the nominative. Here sopimus (the subject) is nominative, so monimutkainen remains nominative.
Why does the verb come at the end of the clause introduced by jos?
Finnish subordinate clauses follow a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. So in jos sopimus olisi monimutkainen, the finite verb olisi appears last.
Is the comma before pyytäisin mandatory?
Yes. In Finnish, you separate a subordinate clause (starting with jos) from the main clause with a comma.
Why isn’t the pronoun minä used before pyytäisin?
Finnish verb endings already encode person and number. Including minä (“I”) is grammatically correct but redundant. You’d only add it for emphasis or contrast.
Could you say pyydän apua instead of pyytäisin apua, and what changes?
  • Pyydän apua (present indicative) implies a real or planned action: “I ask for help.”
  • Pyytäisin apua (conditional) makes it hypothetical: “I would ask for help.” Switching to pyydän removes the purely hypothetical nuance.