sivulause

A sivulause, in Finnish grammar, is a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and is syntactically dependent on a main clause. Sivulauseet add information such as time, reason, condition, purpose, manner, or content to the main clause, and they are connected to it by conjunctions or relative words. They can appear before or after the main clause, and punctuation typically separates a fronted sivulause from the main clause with a comma.

Common types of sivulause include adverbial clauses, content clauses, and relative clauses. Adverbial sivulauseet answer questions like when, why, where, or how something happened. They are usually introduced by conjunctions such as kun (when), koska (because), jos (if), vaikka (although), ennen kuin (before), or jotta (so that). For example: Kun hän tuli, aloitimme keskustelun. Tämä antaa aikaan liittyvän kontekstin toimenpiteelle.

Content (or complement) sivulauseet express content of thinking, saying, or perceiving and are often introduced by että or jos. For example: Uskon, että hän on oikeassa. Se tarkoittaa that what follows is the content of belief or knowledge.

Relative sivulauseet modify a noun and are introduced by words like joka, mikä, kuka, jota, mitä. For example: Se on talo, jossa asuin lapsena. This clause provides extra information about a noun in the main clause.

In Finnish, sivulauseiden syntaksi is flexible: they usually rely on finite verb forms in spoken language, and non-finite forms can occur in specific constructions. Overall, sivulauseet are a central mechanism for adding nuance and detail to sentences while maintaining syntactic hierarchy with a governing main clause.