Breakdown of Teen varmuuskopion tietokoneesta joka perjantai, jotta en menetä tärkeitä tiedostoja.
Questions & Answers about Teen varmuuskopion tietokoneesta joka perjantai, jotta en menetä tärkeitä tiedostoja.
Teen is the 1st person singular present tense of tehdä (to do / to make):
- minä teen = I do / I make
Other present forms: sinä teet, hän tekee, me teemme, te teette, he tekevät.
varmuuskopion is the genitive singular, used here as a total object with tehdä:
- Teen varmuuskopion = I make a (complete) backup (one finished backup each time).
If you used the partitive varmuuskopiota, it would suggest an unfinished/ongoing action:
- Teen varmuuskopiota = I’m making a backup (in progress) / I do some backing up.
tietokoneesta is the elative case (-sta/-stä), which often means out of / from.
Here it’s used in the sense of making a backup from the computer (its contents):
- varmuuskopio tietokoneesta ≈ a backup from the computer
In everyday English you might say backup of my computer, but Finnish commonly expresses the source with the elative.
Yes. A common option is:
- Teen varmuuskopion tietokoneestani joka perjantai... = from my computer
tietokoneestani = tietokone + -sta (elative) + -ni (my).
joka is literally each/every in this time expression, and perjantai is Friday:
- joka perjantai = every Friday / each Friday
This is a fixed, very common pattern: joka päivä (every day), joka viikko (every week), etc.
Yes—Finnish word order is flexible. For emphasis, you can front the time expression:
- Joka perjantai teen varmuuskopion tietokoneesta...
Both are natural; the difference is mainly what you want to highlight.
Because jotta introduces a subordinate clause (a purpose clause). In Finnish, subordinate clauses are typically separated with a comma:
- main clause, jotta
- clause
So the comma in ..., jotta en menetä... is standard.
jotta means so that / in order that and introduces a purpose:
- ..., jotta en menetä tärkeitä tiedostoja. = ...so that I don’t lose important files.
Common alternatives (depending on nuance/style):
- ettei (so that … not) could sometimes replace jotta en...: ..., etten menetä...
- jotta en is very clear and common.
Finnish negation uses a special negative verb (en) plus the connegative form of the main verb (a form without the personal ending):
- affirmative: minä menetän = I lose
- negative: minä en menetä = I don’t lose
So menetä is the correct form after en.
Two key reasons:
1) Negation: In Finnish, the direct object of a negative clause is typically in the partitive:
- en menetä tiedostoja = I don’t lose (any) files
2) It’s an indefinite plural (important files in general), which also commonly uses the partitive.
Also, the adjective agrees with the noun:
- tärkeitä (partitive plural) + tiedostoja (partitive plural)
That would be a total object meaning something like the important files (as a complete set)—but in a negative sentence, you normally don’t use a total object.
So:
- etten menetä tärkeitä tiedostoja = so that I don’t lose important files (any of them) (natural)
- etten menetä tärkeät tiedostot is not standard Finnish.
In an affirmative sentence, the contrast is clearer:
- Menetän tärkeitä tiedostoja = I lose important files (some/unspecified)
- Menetän tärkeät tiedostot = I lose the important files (all the ones we mean)
It’s present tense, but Finnish often uses the present tense in purpose clauses to refer to the future result:
- Teen ... jotta en menetä ... literally uses present, but it naturally means so that I won’t lose ... in English.
A few practical points:
- Stress is on the first syllable: VAR-muus-ko-pi-on, TIE-dos-to-ja
- Double letters are long: tärkeitä has a long ä-feel across syllables, and in menettää (dictionary form) the tt is long.
- tiedostoja ends with -ja pronounced like ya in many accents: ...sto-ya.