The Guardian World 2d ago Original

Floridassa tunnettiin maanjäristys.

An earthquake was felt in Florida.

Finnish · A1 level

Simple Finnish

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1.

Maanjäristyksen magnitudi oli 6,1.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.1.
2.

Maanjäristys tapahtui Kuuban lähellä.

The earthquake happened near Cuba.
3.

Maanjäristys oli voimakkain alueella 150 vuoteen.

The earthquake was the strongest in the area in 150 years.
4.

Maanjäristys tuntui myös Meksikossa.

The earthquake was also felt in Mexico.
5.

Maanjäristys tapahtui maanantaina iltapäivällä.

The earthquake happened on Monday afternoon.
6.

Maanjäristys tapahtui 105 kilometrin päässä Mantuasta.

The earthquake happened 105 kilometers from Mantua.
7.

Maanjäristyksen syvyys oli 16 mailia.

The depth of the earthquake was 16 miles.
8.

USGS kertoi maanjäristyksestä.

USGS reported the earthquake.

Key Words

Word	English	Form
tuntea tunnettiin	to feel was felt	Passive past tense (impersonal)
magnitudi magnitudi	magnitude	Nominative singular
voimakas voimakkain	strong strongest	Superlative adjective (nominative singular)
alue alueella	area in the area	Adessive case (location)
päässä päässä	away (distance) away from	Postposition with elative case (e.g., 'Mantuasta päässä')
syvyys syvyys	depth	Nominative singular

0. Floridassa tunnettiin maanjäristys.

This sentence uses the passive past tense ('tunnettiin') to describe an action without specifying who performed it. In Finnish, the passive is often used in news reports to focus on the event itself. The location ('Floridassa') is in the inessive case, which indicates where something happens. Learners can use this structure to describe events in a general way, e.g., 'Kaupungissa juhlittiin' (The city celebrated).

6. Maanjäristys tapahtui 105 kilometrin päässä Mantuasta.

This sentence uses the postposition 'päässä' with the elative case ('Mantuasta') to indicate distance from a location. The elative case answers the question 'mistä?' (from where?). This structure is common for expressing how far something is from a place. Learners can practice this by saying, e.g., 'Helsingistä päässä' (away from Helsinki).