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Questions & Answers about Sivuovi avataan myöhemmin.
What is avataan, and what voice and tense is it?
avataan is the present passive form of the verb avata (to open). It’s built from the stem avata- plus the passive marker -taan, so grammatically it’s present tense in the passive (impersonal) voice.
Is avataan a future tense? How do you express future time in Finnish?
Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense. avataan is grammatically present, but when you add a time word like myöhemmin (later) or use context, it refers to something that will happen in the future.
Why is there no explicit subject such as we or they in the sentence?
In Finnish passive (called passiivi) the agent is unspecified. You don’t need a pronoun like me or he; the form avataan already means “it will be opened” or “someone will open it.”
What is sivuovi, and what case is it in? Why isn’t it in the partitive case?
sivuovi is a compound noun meaning side door, and here it’s in the nominative singular. In a passive sentence the object (the door) appears in the nominative. Also, because the action is viewed as complete (the door is opened all the way), you don’t use the partitive (sivuovea).
What does myöhemmin mean, and how does it relate to myöhään?
myöhemmin is the comparative form of the adverb myöhään (late). Literally “more late,” it means “later.” Use myöhemmin when pointing to an unspecified later time.
Could you use an active sentence instead, like Me avaamme sivuoven myöhemmin? How does that differ from the passive?
Yes. Me avaamme sivuoven myöhemmin is active: it names the agent me and uses the accusative object sivuoven. The passive avataan leaves the agent unspecified and keeps sivuovi in the nominative. Passives are often used in announcements and instructions.
What about Sivuovi avautuu myöhemmin? What’s the difference in meaning?
avautuu is the intransitive form of avata (“to open itself”). Sivuovi avautuu myöhemmin suggests the door opens by itself (e.g. automatically), whereas avataan implies someone will open it.