Breakdown of Seminaarin puheenjohtaja avaa seminaarin ja esittelee puhujat osallistujille.
Questions & Answers about Seminaarin puheenjohtaja avaa seminaarin ja esittelee puhujat osallistujille.
Seminaarin is in the genitive singular case (seminaari + n → seminaarin).
Here it is used as an attribute in front of another noun:
- seminaariN puheenjohtaja = the chairperson of the seminar
So the genitive -n here means “of the X” and links two nouns together: [noun in genitive] + [head noun].
The form seminaariN looks the same, but now it has a different function:
- In seminaariN puheenjohtaja, seminaariN is genitive attribute (of the seminar).
- In avaa seminaariN, seminaariN is the object of the verb (a total object).
For most nouns, the singular total object in a normal affirmative sentence uses the same -n form as the genitive. Formally this is often called the accusative, but it is identical in form to the genitive for nouns.
So:
- avaa seminaariN ≈ “opens the seminar (completely, as a whole event)”
The key difference is number:
- seminaariN = singular total object
- puhujat = plural total object
In the plural, the total object is in the nominative plural (here: puhuja + t → puhujat) and does not take -n.
So:
- Singular total object: avaa seminaariN
- Plural total object: esittelee puhujaT
Both seminaariN and puhujat are “whole/complete” objects, but the singular uses the -n form, while the plural uses -t.
Both come from puhuja (speaker), but they show different cases / meanings:
- puhujat = nominative plural
- As an object, this is a total object: the speakers (all of them, as a whole group).
- puhujia = partitive plural
- As an object, this is a partial / indefinite object: some speakers, (an unspecified number of) speakers.
So:
- esittelee puhujat osallistujille
= introduces *the speakers to the participants* (whole set) - esittelee puhujia osallistujille
= introduces (some) speakers to the participants (not necessarily all; more vague or incomplete).
Osallistujille is in the allative plural:
- osallistuja (participant)
- stem: osallistuja-
- plural allative: osallistujille (to/for the participants)
The allative (-lle) often corresponds to English to (a recipient) or for:
- antaa kirjan lapselle = gives the book to the child
- esittelee puhujat osallistujille = introduces the speakers to the participants
So -lle here marks the indirect object / recipient of the introduction.
No, that would be ungrammatical or at least misleading.
- osallistujat (nominative plural) would normally be read as another subject or a second object, not as a recipient.
- Finnish uses cases, not prepositions, to show roles like “to someone”. Here, the role “to the participants” must be shown with allative: osallistujille.
So you need osallistujille (allative) to express the direction/recipient: to the participants.
The subject is the whole noun phrase:
- Seminaarin puheenjohtaja
Here:
- puheenjohtaja is the head noun in the nominative → this makes it the grammatical subject.
- seminaariN is a genitive attribute attached to puheenjohtaja.
Finnish often omits personal pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb form already shows the person and number:
- avaa and esittelee are 3rd person singular, so the subject is he/she/it/the X → here: seminaariN puheenjohtaja.
Yes, puheenjohtaja is a compound noun:
- puheen = genitive of puhe (speech, talk, address)
- johtaja = leader, director, person in charge
Literally it is something like:
- puheen johtaja → leader of the speech / chair of the discussion
In actual usage, puheenjohtaja means the chairperson, chair, or moderator of a meeting, seminar, etc. It is used as one word.
They are related but used differently:
esitellä
- core meaning: to introduce, to present (someone or something) to someone
- typical for introducing people or presenting products, ideas briefly
- esitellä puhujat osallistujille = introduce the speakers to the participants
esittää
- core meanings: to perform (music, a play), to present (a proposal, a theory), to state/put forward, to show (a film, program)
- much less natural for introducing people in this context.
You would not normally say esittää puhujat osallistujille for personal introductions. Esitellä is the correct verb here.
Yes, that word order is also grammatically correct:
- Seminaarin puheenjohtaja esittelee puhujat osallistujille
- Seminaarin puheenjohtaja esittelee osallistujille puhujat
Both can mean the same thing: The chair of the seminar introduces the speakers to the participants.
The difference is mostly about information structure / emphasis:
- Putting puhujat earlier may slightly emphasize the speakers.
- Putting puhujat at the end (…osallistujille puhujat) can emphasize who is being introduced, since sentence-final position is often a focus position in Finnish.
In neutral context, both versions are fine and natural.
Yes, and it would reverse who is being introduced to whom:
- esittelee puhujat osallistujille
= introduces the speakers to the participants - esittelee osallistujat puhujille
= introduces the participants to the speakers
So swapping puhujat and osallistujille (and changing osallistujille → osallistujat, puhujat → puhujille accordingly) flips the roles of introduced people and recipients.
You would need to put the relevant nouns into the plural:
- seminaari → seminaarit (nominative plural)
- genitive plural: seminaarien
One natural plural version:
- Seminaarien puheenjohtajat avaavat seminaarit ja esittelevät puhujat osallistujille.
Word-by-word:
- SeminaariEN puheenjohtajaT = the chairs of the seminars
- avaavat seminaariT = (they) open the seminars
- esittelevät puhujaT = (they) introduce the speakers
- osallistujille can stay the same (still “to the participants”), plural allative.
Verb forms also change to 3rd person plural: avaavat, esittelevät.
Finnish has no articles like a / an / the, so definiteness is understood from context, word choice, and case rather than from separate words.
In this sentence:
- Seminaarin puheenjohtaja naturally refers to a specific, known seminar and its chair (probably mentioned earlier or otherwise understood).
- avaa seminaarin likewise points to that particular seminar.
- puhujat and osallistujille usually refer to the speakers and participants of that seminar, so they are also understood as definite (“the speakers”, “the participants”).
If the context were different, the same forms could be translated with a / some, but here the surrounding meaning makes the English translation with “the” most natural.