Lääkäri hoitaa potilasta, jolla on kuume.

The doctor treats a patient who has a fever.

Breakdown of Lääkäri hoitaa potilasta, jolla on kuume.

• olla: to be
• lääkäri: the doctor
• kuume: the fever
• potilas: the patient
• hoitaa: to treat
• jolla: who

Questions & Answers about Lääkäri hoitaa potilasta, jolla on kuume.

Why is potilasta in the partitive case?

Because hoitaa often takes a partitive object when the action is seen as ongoing, in progress, or not presented as reaching a clear endpoint.

So lääkäri hoitaa potilasta suggests the doctor is treating a/the patient as an activity in progress.

If you changed it to potilaan, that would be a total object, which can make the treatment sound more bounded or complete in context. In many basic sentences about ongoing medical treatment, potilasta is the natural choice.

Why is it jolla and not joka?

The basic relative pronoun is joka, meaning who / which / that. But in Finnish, the relative pronoun changes case according to its role inside the relative clause.

Here the relative clause is:

jolla on kuume

This comes from the structure:

potilaalla on kuume = the patient has a fever

Because the person who has something is put in the adessive case in Finnish, potilaalla becomes jolla in the relative clause.

So:

• joka = base form
• jolla = adessive form of joka

Why does Finnish say jolla on kuume instead of something more like who has a fever?

Finnish often expresses possession with olla plus the adessive case.

So instead of saying something literally like the patient has a fever, Finnish structures it as:

potilaalla on kuume
literally: on the patient there is a fever

That sounds strange in English, but it is a completely normal Finnish pattern. In the full sentence, jolla on kuume is simply the natural Finnish way to say who has a fever.

Why is kuume in the nominative and not kuumetta?

In a positive possession/existence structure like on kuume, the thing possessed is often in the nominative, especially when it is singular and countable as one item/state.

So:

• potilaalla on kuume = the patient has a fever
• potilaalla ei ole kuumetta = the patient does not have a fever

Notice that in the negative sentence, Finnish uses the partitive: kuumetta. That contrast is very common in Finnish.

Does jolla refer to the doctor or to the patient?

It refers to potilasta.

So the sentence means that the doctor is treating the patient who has a fever, not the doctor who has a fever.

In context and grammar, the relative clause attaches to the noun right before it, which is potilasta.

Why is there a comma before jolla?

Because Finnish normally uses a comma before a relative clause.

Here, jolla on kuume is a relative clause describing potilasta, so the comma is standard punctuation:

Lääkäri hoitaa potilasta, jolla on kuume.

This is one place where Finnish punctuation is quite similar to English, although the exact rules are not always identical in every sentence type.

Why are there no words for the or a in the Finnish sentence?

Finnish has no articles like English a and the.

So lääkäri can mean a doctor or the doctor, and potilasta can mean a patient or the patient, depending on context.

This sentence could therefore be translated in more than one natural way in English, for example:

• The doctor is treating the patient who has a fever.
• A doctor is treating a patient who has a fever.

The wider context tells you which is meant.

Could the word order be different?

Yes, Finnish word order is more flexible than English word order, but this version is the most neutral and straightforward.

Lääkäri hoitaa potilasta, jolla on kuume.

That is a normal basic order:

• Lääkäri = subject
• hoitaa = verb
• potilasta = object
• jolla on kuume = relative clause describing the object

Other word orders are possible, but they usually add emphasis, contrast, or a different information structure.

Would Lääkäri hoitaa potilaan, jolla on kuume also be possible?

Yes, it can be possible, but it changes the nuance.

• hoitaa potilasta = treating the patient, focusing on the ongoing process
• hoitaa potilaan = can suggest a more complete or bounded action toward the patient

In many everyday contexts, potilasta is the more natural choice when simply describing medical treatment in progress. So the original sentence is a very typical way to say it.

What is the basic dictionary form of the words in this sentence?

The dictionary forms are:

• lääkäri = doctor
• hoitaa = to treat, take care of
• potilas = patient
• joka = who, which, that
• olla = to be
• kuume = fever

In the sentence, some of these appear in inflected forms:

• potilasta = partitive of potilas
• jolla = adessive form of joka
• on = present tense of olla

Is hoitaa only used for medical treatment?

No. Hoitaa is a broad verb meaning things like to treat, to take care of, to manage, or to handle, depending on context.

For example, it can be used for:

• treating a patient
• taking care of a child
• handling a task
• managing a responsibility

In this sentence, because the subject is lääkäri and the object is potilasta, the medical meaning treat is the natural one.