Breakdown of Minun pitää maksaa ylimääräinen maksu, jos unohdan matkakortin.
minun
my
jos
if
unohtaa
to forget
maksaa
to pay
matkakortti
the travel card
pitää
to have to
ylimääräinen
extra
maksu
the fee
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Questions & Answers about Minun pitää maksaa ylimääräinen maksu, jos unohdan matkakortin.
Why is it Minun pitää and not Minä pitää?
In Finnish modal expressions of necessity like pitää stay in the third person singular. The subject is shown by a genitive pronoun (here minun), not a nominative pronoun (minä). So you always say minun pitää + infinitive, never minä pitää.
What role does pitää play in this sentence?
Here pitää is a modal verb meaning have to or must. It takes the following verb in the first infinitive (in this case maksaa) to express obligation. It’s always inflected in the 3rd person singular regardless of who must do the action.
Why is maksaa in its infinitive form?
When you use a modal verb like pitää, the main verb stays in the first infinitive (dictionary) form. You don’t conjugate it further because the modality (have to) is carried by pitää.
Why is the object ylimääräinen maksu in the nominative case instead of the partitive?
Finnish marks a complete object with nominative/accusative when the action is telic (i.e., you pay the entire fee). Use the partitive only for incomplete or ongoing actions. Since you’re paying the full extra fee, it’s in the nominative.
Why do we put a comma before jos?
In Finnish, subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like jos (if) are always separated from the main clause by a comma, just like in English.
Why is unohdan in the present tense? Shouldn’t it be future?
Finnish doesn’t have a separate future tense. The present tense covers both present and future. So unohdan can refer to a future forgetting: if I forget (later).
Why is matkakortin in the -in form?
The verb unohtaa requires a complete object. For a singular complete object, Finnish uses the accusative, which in singular looks like the genitive. So matkakortin is genitive singular, functioning here as the accusative.
Can I replace Minun pitää with Minun täytyy?
Yes. täytyy is an impersonal necessity verb that also takes a genitive subject (minun täytyy). Both minun pitää and minun täytyy mean I have to. täytyy often sounds a bit more formal.
Why is there no personal pronoun before unohdan?
Finnish verb endings indicate person and number, so the pronoun minä is optional. unohdan already clearly means I forget, so you normally omit minä.