Breakdown of Tämä kypärä lisää turvallisuutta.
tämä
this
turvallisuus
the safety
kypärä
the helmet
lisätä
to increase
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Questions & Answers about Tämä kypärä lisää turvallisuutta.
Why is turvallisuutta in the partitive case?
Verbs like lisätä that describe increasing something unbounded or abstract typically take a partitive object in Finnish. Since turvallisuus (“safety”) is an uncountable concept here and you’re talking about adding some amount of it, you use the partitive singular turvallisuutta.
What is the infinitive form of lisää, and what person/tense is lisää?
The infinitive is lisätä (“to add, to increase”). Lisää is the third person singular present tense form, so it means “he/she/it increases” or “it adds.”
Why can’t you say lisää turvallisuus instead of lisää turvallisuutta?
Using the nominative turvallisuus would imply a completed, total amount of safety. But when you’re talking about increasing something in an open-ended way, Finnish requires the partitive case. So lisätä + nominative object in this context would be ungrammatical.
How do you form the partitive singular of nouns ending in -us, like turvallisuus?
For many Finnish nouns ending in -us, you drop -us and add -utta. For example:
• turvallisuus → turvallisuutta
• kestävyys (“durability”) → kestävyyttä
Why is there no article like “the” or “a” in Tämä kypärä lisää turvallisuutta?
Finnish doesn’t have definite or indefinite articles. Instead, context or demonstratives (like tämä “this”) indicate whether something is specific or general. Here, tämä makes it clear you mean “this particular helmet.”
Can you omit tämä and just say Kypärä lisää turvallisuutta?
Yes. Kypärä lisää turvallisuutta would mean “A helmet increases safety” or “Helmets increase safety” in a general sense. Adding tämä singles out a specific helmet.
Could you use a different verb, for example parantaa, instead of lisätä?
Absolutely. Tämä kypärä parantaa turvallisuutta also works and means “This helmet improves safety.” Parantaa and lisätä are close synonyms in this context.