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Breakdown of On turha valittaa säästä, koska emme voi muuttaa sitä.
olla
to be
koska
because
voida
to be able to
se
it
ei
not
sää
the weather
-sta
about
turha
pointless
valittaa
to complain
muuttaa
to change
Questions & Answers about On turha valittaa säästä, koska emme voi muuttaa sitä.
What does On turha mean and how is this construction used?
On turha literally means “it is pointless” or “there’s no use.” It’s an impersonal construction:
- On turha
- verb-infinitive expresses “there’s no point in doing something.”
- You don’t need an explicit subject (“se” or “it”) because Finnish allows impersonal On
- adjective + infinitive.
Example: On turha yrittää = “It’s pointless to try.”
- adjective + infinitive.
Why is valittaa in the infinitive form after On turha?
After the impersonal On turha, you always use the basic (first) infinitive of the verb to indicate the action that is pointless:
- On turha valittaa = “It’s pointless to complain.”
You wouldn’t conjugate it because the infinitive acts like a noun here.
Why is säästä in the -sta case instead of nominative “sää”?
Valittaa takes the elative case (jostakin = “about something”). The ending -sta/-stä marks “from” or “about”:
- valittaa säästä = “to complain about the weather.”
Why is there no explicit subject (like “se”) before on turha?
Finnish often uses impersonal sentences for general statements. Instead of “Se on turha valittaa,” you can drop “se” and say simply On turha valittaa. It functions much like English “It’s pointless …” without naming “it.”
Why is koska used here, not että or sillä?
- koska = “because,” a causal conjunction introducing a reason clause.
- että = “that,” used for reported speech or content clauses, not reasons.
- sillä = also “because/for,” more colloquial than koska, but you could say …, sillä emme voi muuttaa sitä.
Why is the pronoun se rendered as sitä in muuttaa sitä, not sen or se?
- Se refers back to sää (“the weather”).
- In negative clauses, Finnish often uses the partitive object:
- affirmative: muutamme sen (“we change it”)
- negative: emmekä voi muuttaa sitä (“we can’t change it”)
Could I nominalize the first clause instead of using On turha + infinitive?
Yes. You can turn the verb into a noun with -minen:
- Säästä valittaminen on turhaa.
This means exactly the same, but uses a noun phrase valittaminen (“complaining”).
Can I reverse the sentence order to start with the reason?
Absolutely. Finnish allows either order:
- Koska emme voi muuttaa sitä, on turha valittaa säästä.
or - On turha valittaa säästä, koska emme voi muuttaa sitä.
Both mean “It’s pointless to complain about the weather, because we can’t change it.”
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