Breakdown of Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
Questions & Answers about Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
Osaa comes from the verb osata, which means “to know how to, to have the skill to do something.”
Haastattelija neuvottelee rauhallisesti
= The interviewer negotiates calmly (right now / in this situation).Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti
= The interviewer knows how to negotiate calmly / is able to negotiate calmly (in general, as a skill).
So osaa makes the sentence about the interviewer’s ability or skill, not just about what they happen to be doing at the moment.
Other common “ability” verbs for comparison:
- voi = can, is allowed to / is able to (more about possibility or permission)
- pystyy = is capable of (often implies overcoming difficulty)
But osaa focuses specifically on knowing how to do something (learned skill).
In Finnish, verbs like osata, haluta, voida, pystyä etc. are followed by the 1st infinitive, which is the dictionary form of the verb:
- osata + neuvotella
- haluta + syödä (to want to eat)
- voida + tulla (to be able to come)
So the pattern is:
[conjugated “helper” verb] + [infinitive]
Haastattelija osaa neuvotella.
The interviewer knows how to negotiate.
You cannot say:
✗ Haastattelija osaa neuvottelee – that’s ungrammatical.
Here osaa carries the person/tense information (3rd person singular, present), and neuvotella stays in the infinitive to show what skill the interviewer has.
rauhallinen is an adjective = calm (describes a noun)
- rauhallinen haastattelija = a calm interviewer
- rauhallinen neuvottelu = a calm negotiation
rauhallisesti is an adverb = calmly (describes how something is done)
- neuvotella rauhallisesti = to negotiate calmly
Finnish often forms adverbs from adjectives by adding -sti:
- nopea → nopeasti (fast → fast / quickly)
- hiljainen → hiljaisesti (quiet → quietly)
- rauhallinen → rauhallisesti (calm → calmly)
In the sentence, rauhallisesti tells you how the interviewer negotiates.
Here vaikka means “although / even though”, introducing a fact that contrasts with the main clause:
Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
The interviewer knows how to negotiate calmly, although the applicant is tense.
Key point:
vaikka + indicative (normal present/past tense) usually means “although / even though” (a real situation).
- Vaikka hakija on jännittynyt… = Although the applicant is tense (and we consider this true).
vaikka + conditional can mean “even if” (hypothetical).
- Vaikka hakija olisi jännittynyt… = Even if the applicant were tense (maybe they aren’t; it’s hypothetical).
So in your sentence, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt states a real condition that contrasts with the interviewer’s calm, skilled negotiation.
Jännittynyt is the active past participle of jännittyä (to become tense, to tense up), but in everyday language it behaves very much like an adjective meaning “tense, nervous.”
- olla + [past participle used adjectivally] often expresses a resulting state:
- on väsynyt = is tired (from väsyä = to get tired)
- on pettynyt = is disappointed (from pettää / pettyä)
- on jännittynyt = is tense / is nervous (from jännittyä)
Even though it looks like a perfect tense morphologically, in sentences like this it usually just means a current state, not “has become tense” in a strongly event-like way.
Compare these Finnish options:
Hakija on jännittynyt.
= The applicant is tense/nervous (state).Hakijaa jännittää.
= The applicant feels nervous / is nervous (literally: “the applicant is being made nervous”).Hakija on hermostunut.
= The applicant is nervous/anxious (slightly different nuance: more like “agitated, on edge”).
In your sentence, on jännittynyt describes the emotional state of the applicant during the interview.
Both are agent nouns formed with the suffix -ja / -jä, which usually means “a person who does X.”
haastattelija
- From the verb haastatella = to interview.
- haastatella → haastattelija = interviewer (literally: “one who interviews”).
hakija
- From the verb hakea = to seek, to apply for.
- hakea → hakija = applicant, seeker (literally: “one who applies/seeks”).
In the sentence, both haastattelija and hakija are in the nominative singular (the basic form), functioning as the subjects of their respective clauses:
- Haastattelija osaa neuvotella… → The interviewer knows how to negotiate…
- … vaikka hakija on jännittynyt. → …although the applicant is tense.
Yes. Finnish allows you to move the subordinate clause (the one starting with vaikka) to the front without changing the basic meaning:
- Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
- Vaikka hakija on jännittynyt, haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti.
Both mean the same thing.
A few notes:
- When the vaikka-clause comes first, you must put a comma after it.
- When it comes second, you also normally separate it with a comma from the main clause, as in your original sentence.
- Putting the vaikka-clause first slightly emphasizes the contrastive condition (“Even though the applicant is tense…”).
In Finnish, subordinate clauses (like those introduced by että, koska, kun, vaikka, jos etc.) are usually separated from the main clause with a comma, regardless of word order:
- Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
- Vaikka hakija on jännittynyt, haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti.
So the rule here is not special to vaikka; it’s a general punctuation rule:
Main clause , subordinate clause
Subordinate clause , main clause
In many cases where English might omit the comma, Finnish still uses it.
Osaa is 3rd person singular present of osata. Here is the full present tense conjugation with examples:
minä osaan = I know how to
- Osaan neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka olen jännittynyt.
I know how to negotiate calmly, although I am tense.
- Osaan neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka olen jännittynyt.
sinä osaat = you (sg) know how to
- Osaat neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka olet jännittynyt.
hän osaa = he/she knows how to
- Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
me osaamme = we know how to
- Osaamme neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka olemme jännittyneitä.
te osaatte = you (pl) know how to
- Osaatte neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka olette jännittyneitä.
he osaavat = they know how to
- He osaavat neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka ovat jännittyneitä.
Notice how osata changes its ending according to the subject, but the following verb (neuvotella) stays in the infinitive in all persons.
To negate, Finnish uses the negative verb ei, which is conjugated for person, plus the connegative form of the main verb.
For the 3rd person singular:
affirmative:
Haastattelija osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
= The interviewer knows how to negotiate calmly, although the applicant is tense.negative:
Haastattelija ei osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti, vaikka hakija on jännittynyt.
= The interviewer does not know how to negotiate calmly, although the applicant is tense.
Here:
- ei = 3rd person singular negative verb.
- osaa is the connegative form (for osata, it looks the same as the 3rd person singular affirmative, but grammatically it’s the form used after ei).
If you changed the person, you’d conjugate ei:
- En osaa neuvotella rauhallisesti… = I don’t know how to negotiate calmly…
- Et osaa… = You (sg) don’t know how to…
- Emme osaa… = We don’t know how to… etc.