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Breakdown of Uusi rakennus ei ole vielä valmis.
olla
to be
valmis
ready
ei
not
uusi rakennus
the new building
vielä
yet
Questions & Answers about Uusi rakennus ei ole vielä valmis.
What is the role of the word ei in this sentence?
In Finnish, ei is the negative auxiliary verb that carries both person and number in negation. Here it’s in the 3rd person singular, so together with the connegative of the main verb (ole), “ei ole” means “is not.”
Why is the verb ole not conjugated like on?
Negative constructions in Finnish split into:
- A negative auxiliary (ei) with the personal ending.
- The main verb in its connegative form (no personal ending).
For olla (to be), the 3rd person singular connegative is ole, so we say ei ole rather than ei on.
Why is rakennus in the nominative case?
Rakennus functions as the subject of the sentence. Subjects remain in the nominative case in both affirmative and negative sentences. Only direct objects can shift to the partitive in negative contexts.
Why doesn’t valmis take any ending in this sentence?
Valmis is a predicative adjective linked to the subject by “olla.” Predicative adjectives agree in case and number with their subject. Since rakennus is singular nominative, valmis stays in singular nominative, which has no extra ending.
What does vielä mean and why is it placed between “ei ole” and “valmis”?
- Vielä means “yet” (in a negative context, “not… yet”).
- Finnish adverbs of time normally appear between the (negative) verb and the adjective or object they modify.
Thus “ei ole vielä valmis” literally conveys “is not yet ready.”
How do you pronounce Uusi rakennus ei ole vielä valmis?
Finnish is largely phonetic, with main stress on the first syllable of each word. Approximate IPA transcription:
- Uusi [ˈuː.si]
- rakennus [ˈrɑ.kɛn.nus]
- ei [ˈei̯]
- ole [ˈo.le]
- vielä [ˈʋiel.la]
- valmis [ˈʋɑl.mis]
Could I use valmiina or valmistunut instead of valmis?
Yes, but with subtle differences:
- valmis = “finished/ready” (state).
- valmiina (adessive case) often implies “ready for something” (e.g. valmiina lähtöön = “ready to depart”).
- valmistunut is the perfect participle of valmistua (“to be completed”), focusing on the completion action (“has been completed”).
For “not yet finished,” valmis is the most straightforward choice.
Why doesn’t uusi change its form when modifying rakennus?
When an adjective modifies a noun in the nominative singular, it takes the adjective’s nominative singular form to agree with the noun. So you get uusi rakennus (“new building”). In other cases (e.g. genitive) both adjective and noun would receive matching endings, like uuden rakennuksen.
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