Breakdown of Laitan tiskisienen kuivumaan, jotta se ei haise pahalta.
Questions & Answers about Laitan tiskisienen kuivumaan, jotta se ei haise pahalta.
tiskisienen is the singular genitive form of tiskisieni (dish sponge). In Finnish, a total (definite/complete) direct object is often marked with genitive -n in the singular (traditionally called the “genitive accusative” in object use).
Here, Laitan tiskisienen... means you’re putting the sponge somewhere (a complete action affecting the whole object), so a total object form is used.
tiskisientä would be the partitive object, typically used when the action is incomplete, ongoing, or only affects part of the object.
With laittaa (to put/place), you usually place the object as a whole in a new location/state, so total object (tiskisienen) is natural.
You might see partitive in different meanings/contexts, e.g. if the action is not completed or is more abstract, but in this concrete “put it to dry” situation, total object fits best.
kuivumaan is the illative form of the 3rd infinitive: kuivua (to dry) → kuivumaan (“into drying / to dry”).
After many verbs of placing/moving (like laittaa), Finnish often uses this structure:
- laittaa + [something] + [verb in -maan/-mään]
It expresses putting something so that it goes into a state or process, here: “to dry / to dry out.”
Yes. kuivaksi uses the translative case (-ksi) and means “(to become) dry” as a result state.
Difference in nuance:
- kuivumaan = “to (go) drying / to dry out” (focus on the process starting)
- kuivaksi = “to become dry” (focus on the end result)
Both are common; kuivumaan is very idiomatic for “put it somewhere to dry.”
jotta introduces a purpose clause: “in order that / so that.”
So ..., jotta se ei haise pahalta means “..., so that it doesn’t smell bad.”
In Finnish, the verb in a jotta-clause is typically in the conditional mood (haisi), especially in formal style, but everyday speech often uses the indicative (haise), like in this sentence.
Both exist, but they differ in formality/style:
- More standard/formal: jotta se ei haisisi pahalta (conditional)
- Very common in everyday Finnish: jotta se ei haise pahalta (indicative)
If you want the “textbook” version, use haisisi. If you want natural spoken Finnish, haise is normal.
In Finnish negation, the main verb uses a special form called the connegative (it doesn’t take the normal personal ending).
- Positive: se haisee = “it smells”
- Negative: se ei haise = “it doesn’t smell”
So ei carries the person/number, and the main verb appears in the connegative form.
The base verb is haista (“to smell; to stink”).
In this sentence, it clearly means “to smell (bad), to stink.”
Forms you might notice:
- haisee (3rd person singular, positive)
- haise (connegative used after ei)
pahalta is the ablative case (-lta/-ltä) of paha (“bad”), used in expressions of sensory impression:
- haista pahalta = “to smell bad”
- näyttää hyvältä = “to look good”
- kuulostaa oudolta = “to sound strange”
So pahalta here means “(as) bad” in the sense of “giving a bad smell impression,” not “badly” (pahasti) and not a plain adjective (paha).
Yes. se (“it”) refers back to tiskisieni.
Even though tiskisieni is a thing, Finnish commonly uses se for “it” in both spoken and written language (and hän is generally for people).
Finnish word order is flexible, but it affects emphasis. The neutral order here is:
Laitan tiskisienen kuivumaan, jotta se ei haise pahalta.
Some variations are possible, for example:
- Jotta se ei haise pahalta, laitan tiskisienen kuivumaan. (emphasizes the purpose first)
But inside the negative clause, ei typically comes right before the main verb: ei haise.
laitan is the 1st person singular present tense of laittaa (“to put/place”).
So the subject is “I” (often omitted in Finnish because the verb ending shows it):
(Minä) laitan... = “I put / I’m putting / I will put” (present can cover near-future depending on context).