Siinä tapauksessa – Siitä huolimatta – Connectives
In this article, we focus on expressions that could be called participles, adverbs, postpostions or conjunctions (depending on who you ask). I’ve collected them into one article because they are used in a similar construction: they all start with a form of the pronoun “se”: sitä, siihen, sillä, siitä, siinä etc. The pronouns form a phrase with the word attached to it.
| Case | Form |
|---|---|
| nominative (mikä?) | se |
| genitive (minkä?) | sen |
| partitive (mitä?) | sitä |
| inessive (missä?) | siinä |
| elative (mistä?) | siitä |
| illative (mihin) | siihen |
| adessive (millä) | sillä |
| ablative (miltä) | siltä |
| allative (mille?) | sille |
This article consists of two parts: first we look at the more adverb-like phrases we can just inject into the middle of sentences that refer to something that’s only clear from the context. Second, you can find a list of similar phrases that include the context through an että-sentence.
Connectives – Siinä tapauksessa – Siitä huolimatta
The phrases in the table below refer to something mentioned early in the context. The sentence on its own clearly misses an element. For example, Olet siinä suhteessa oikeassa “You’re right in that respect” doesn’t tell us what the siinä “that” refers to. The placement of these phrases in sentences is pretty free. We can move them around without affecting the meaning.
- Siinä tapauksessa minä lähden kotiin. “In that case, I’m going home.”
- Minä lähden siinä tapauksessa kotiin. “I’m going home in that case.”
- Minä lähden kotiin siinä tapauksessa. “I’m going home in that case.”
Based on those two characteristics, we can call them connectives (konnektiivit). However, I’m only covering part of what can be called connectives. We can group these words into several subgroups based on their meaning:
- Many of these focus on or single out a single thing (#1).
- Another big group offers a reason or explanation (#2).
- Thirdly, we have those that refer to time or order (#3).
- Then, there are some that show a contrast or concession (#4).
- Less common: manner (#5), addition (#6) and condition (#7).
| # | Finnish | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uskon, että olet [siinä suhteessa] oikeassa. | I believe that you are right [in that respect]. |
| 1 | Olen [siltä osin] samaa mieltä. | I agree [in that regard]. |
| 1 | [Siinä asiassa] en koskaan anna periksi. | I will never give up [in that case]. |
| 1 | Olen [siinä mielessä] kuin äitini. | [In that respect] I’m like my mom. |
| 1 | Huomasin [siinä yhteydessä] vian. | I noticed [in that context] the fault. |
| 2 | [Sen tähden] emme voi enää jatkaa. | [For that reason] we can’t continue. |
| 2 | Lähdin [sen vuoksi] liian myöhässä. | [That’s why] I left too late. |
| 2 | Hän saa [sen johdosta] paljon lahjoja. | He gets a lot of presents [for that reason]. |
| 2 | [Sen ansiosta] asiat sujuvat helpommin. | [Due to that] things go more smoothly. |
| 2 | [Siitä syystä] ei kannata tulla myöhässä. | [For that reason] you shouldn’t come late. |
| 2 | Anna on lähtenyt juuri [sen takia]. | Anna has left precisely [because of that]. |
| 3 | Opin [siinä samalla] uusia sanojakin. | I’m learning new words [at the same time]. |
| 3 | Vaimo tekee [sillä välin] ruokaa. | [In the meantime] the wife is cooking. |
| 3 | Mitä Sannalle tapahtui [sillä aikaa]? | What happened to Sanna [in the meantime]? |
| 3 | Palvelut huononivat [sen myötä]. | The services got worse [as a result]. |
| 4 | Haluan [siitä huolimatta] tietää asiasta. | [Regardless of that] I want to know about it. |
| 4 | Olen [sitä paitsi] vanhempi kuin sinä. | [Besides], I’m older than you. |
| 4 | Tarvitsemme [sen sijaan] enemmän aikaa. | We need [in contrast] more time. |
| 4 | Olemme [sitä vastoin] hyvin tyytyväisiä. | [On the contrary], we are very satisfied. |
| 5 | [Sillä tavoin] ongelmat vain pahenevat. | [That way] problems only get worse. |
| 5 | Älä puhu minulle [siihen tapaan]. | Don’t talk to me [in that way]. |
| 6 | Tarvitsen [sen lisäksi] vielä kesähatun. | [In addition] I still need a summer hat. |
| 7 | [Siinä tapauksessa] minä lähden kotiin. | [If that’s the case], I’m going home. |
Instances where the “se” is defined with “että”
In some phrases with similar phrases, the “se” doesn’t depend on knowing the context. Rather, we can have the “se” explained within the same sentences, by following it up with an että-sentence.
In these situations, the use of “se” is due to the construction requiring a certain case of the word attached to it. Because you can’t add a case to an että-sentence, it’s added to the “se“. For example, Tulin säästä huolimatta “I came regardless of the weather” will become Tulin siitä huolimatta, että en halunnut kastua “I came regardless of the fact that I didn’t want to get wet”.
| Finnish | English |
|---|---|
| Palkkani riittää [siinä mielessä, että en kuole nälkään]. | My wages are enough [in the sense that I don’t starve]. |
| Lähden vain [siinä tapauksessa, etten muuta voi tehdä]. | I only leave [in case that I can’t do anything else]. |
| Tulin vain [siitä syystä, että Maila pakotti minua]. | I only came [for the reason that Maila made me]. |
| Kirjoita se ylös [siltä varalta, että unohdat]. | Write it down [in case (that) you forget]. |
| Tapani tuli [siitä huolimatta, että kielsin sen]. | Tapani came [despite that I forbade it]. |
| Autan sinua [sillä ehdolla, että autat minua huomenna]. | I help you [provided that you help me tomorrow]. |
| Älä muutu [sen tähden, että ihmiset pitäisivät sinusta]. | Don’t change [for the reason that people’d like you]. |
| Aloitin tupakoinnin [sen vuoksi, että muutkin polttivat]. | I started smoking [for the reason that others also did]. |
| Lopetimme [sen johdosta, että vanhenimme]. | We quit [on account of us getting older]. |
| Valehtelit [sen takia, että pelkäsit vastaustani]. | You lied [for that reason that you feared my answer]. |
| Valehtelit [sen sijaan, että olisit luottanut minuun]. | You lied [instead of trusting me]. |
| Soitin [siinä toivossa, että tulisit syömään]. | I called [in the hopes that you’d come eat]. |
| Tiedän vain [sen verran, että hänellä on vaikeuksia]. | I only know [to the extent that he has problems]. |
| Onnistuin [siinä mielessä, että kukaan ei valittanut]. | I succeeded [in the sense that nobody complained]. |
Read more elsewhere
It’s been hard to find any sources that address this exact same issue, but you might want to dive deeper into the issue with these sources:
- Virittäjä: Konjunktio, partikkeli vai konnektiivi?
- Kielikello: Selvää on se, että
There are many textbooks treating simple se, että clauses, but I have never seen such a complete set of examples in one place. Thank you for this valuable resource!
To expand upon the point that the se, että construction allows for inflection into other cases, (as mentioned in the Kielikello article) a subclause appearing in the nominative at the start of a sentence would likewise require it, such as:
I see, thank you, I’m starting to appreciate the complexity here!
So, if I understand correctly from the kielikello article, in fact the se, että construction can be applied to more exotic case endings and derivations of ‘se‘, such as sellainen, että and siten, että (here, siten is rare causative case of ‘se‘).
I’ve seen the latter referred to as an ‘instrumental clause’ in Korpela, where he links it to adessive singular third (MA-) infinitive constructions:
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