Breakdown of Työ on joskus raskasta, mutta hyvä lepo auttaa jaksamaan.
Questions & Answers about Työ on joskus raskasta, mutta hyvä lepo auttaa jaksamaan.
Raskas is the basic form (nominative), and raskasta is the partitive singular.
With olla (to be), Finnish can use either nominative or partitive for the adjective/predicate. The choice often reflects whether the state is seen as:
- More permanent/defining → nominative
- Työ on raskas. = The work is (characteristically) hard.
- Partial, occasional, or not fully defining → partitive
- Työ on joskus raskasta. = Work is sometimes hard (but not always).
So raskasta here fits the idea of “sometimes, to some extent” rather than a fixed property of the work.
The verb jaksaa means something like:
- to have the energy/strength to do something
- to cope, manage, keep going, endure
Jaksamaan is the illative form of the MA‑infinitive (the so-called 3rd infinitive):
- stem: jaksama-
- illative ending: -an
- → jaksamaan
The pattern is: auttaa + (MA‑infinitive in illative)
- auttaa jaksamaan = helps (someone) to cope / to keep going
- auttaa nukkumaan = helps (someone) to sleep
- auttaa oppimaan = helps (someone) to learn
So jaksamaan is not a personal form like “I cope / you cope”; it’s an infinitive “(to) cope, (to) keep going” used after auttaa.
Finnish often leaves out pronouns when they are clear from context or meant in a general sense.
In this sentence, auttaa jaksamaan is understood as:
- helps you/us/people in general to cope / keep going
There is no explicit object like “me” (minua) or “you” (sinua) because:
- The sentence is making a general statement about work and rest.
- Finnish allows impersonal/generic expressions: “good rest helps (one) to cope.”
You could add a pronoun if you want to specify:
- Hyvä lepo auttaa minua jaksamaan. = Good rest helps me to cope.
- Hyvä lepo auttaa sinua jaksamaan. = Good rest helps you to cope.
Because lepo is a noun, and nouns are modified by adjectives, not adverbs.
- hyvä = adjective “good”
- hyvin = adverb “well”
So:
- hyvä lepo = good rest (a rest that is good)
- hyvin levätä = to rest well (to rest in a good way)
You could say:
- Hyvin levätty yö auttaa jaksamaan. = A night well rested helps (one) to cope.
In mutta hyvä lepo auttaa jaksamaan, hyvä lepo is the subject:
- hyvä lepo = subject (nominative)
- auttaa = verb (3rd person singular)
- jaksamaan = infinitive complement
There is no explicit object like “me” or “you” here; the idea of who is being helped is generic/implicit. If you add an object, it becomes clear:
- Hyvä lepo auttaa työntekijää jaksamaan.
Good rest helps the worker to cope.- työntekijää is then the object (partitive).
Yes, Työ on joskus raskas is possible and understandable, but the nuance shifts:
- Työ on joskus raskasta.
- Partitive: emphasizes the partial/occasional nature, like “it can be hard at times.”
- Työ on joskus raskas.
- Nominative: sounds a bit more like talking about particular occasions or a more concrete, defined situation: “sometimes the work (that we have) is hard.”
In practice, with joskus, the partitive (raskasta) is more natural and common, because the meaning is “sometimes, to some extent.”
Both can be translated as “hard,” but they focus on different aspects:
raskas
- physically or mentally heavy, tiring, burdensome
- Työ on raskasta. = The work is tiring / wears you out.
vaikea
- difficult, complicated, hard to understand or do
- Tehtävä on vaikea. = The task is difficult.
So:
- A job that exhausts you: raskas työ.
- A task you don’t know how to do: vaikea tehtävä.
You could say:
- Työ on joskus raskasta ja joskus vaikeaa.
Work is sometimes exhausting and sometimes difficult.
Yes, you can say:
- Työ on joskus raskasta.
- Joskus työ on raskasta.
Both are correct and mean roughly the same. The difference is in emphasis:
- Työ on joskus raskasta.
Neutral order; topic is “work,” and you add that it is sometimes hard. - Joskus työ on raskasta.
Puts more emphasis on the “sometimes” – almost like: “There are times when work is hard.”
In English too, compare “Sometimes work is hard” vs. “Work is sometimes hard.”
Mutta means “but”, and in Finnish, you always put a comma before mutta when it joins clauses, much like in English:
- Työ on joskus raskasta, mutta hyvä lepo auttaa jaksamaan.
- Work is sometimes hard, but good rest helps you cope.
Even in fairly short sentences, the comma stays:
- Olen väsynyt, mutta jatkan. = I’m tired, but I’ll continue.
After auttaa (“to help”), Finnish usually prefers the MA‑infinitive in illative:
- auttaa tekemään = help (someone) to do
- auttaa jaksamaan = help (someone) to cope
- auttaa oppimaan = help (someone) to learn
So auttaa jaksamaan follows the regular and most natural pattern.
You can see auttaa + 1st infinitive (e.g. auttaa tehdä) in some contexts, but:
- auttaa + MA‑infinitive (illative) is very common and neutral.
- As a learner, it’s safest to memorise auttaa tekemään / auttoi minua ymmärtämään / auttaa jaksamaan as the default structure.
All three can be translated as “sometimes,” but they have slightly different flavors:
joskus
- very common; neutral “sometimes, at some times.”
- Työ on joskus raskasta.
välillä
- literally “between (times)”; often “now and then, from time to time.”
- Työ on välillä raskasta. = From time to time, work is hard.
Often a bit more colloquial.
toisinaan
- somewhat more literary/formal “at times, occasionally.”
- Työ on toisinaan raskasta.
In everyday speech, joskus and välillä are both very frequent. Here, joskus is the most neutral choice.
You could, but it sounds more abstract or formal.
lepo = “rest” as a concrete thing/state (sleep, a break, resting period)
- Hyvä lepo auttaa jaksamaan. = Good rest helps you cope.
lepääminen = “the act of resting,” a -minen noun from levätä
- Hyvä lepääminen auttaa jaksamaan. ≈ Good resting helps you cope.
In everyday language, when talking about getting rest (sleep, breaks, recovery), lepo is more natural: Hyvä lepo. Use -minen forms more when you’re talking about activities in the abstract, e.g.:
- Säännöllinen lepääminen on tärkeää. = Regular resting is important.