Kaksi kysymystä 1. Jälkiä löytyi eli ainakin joskus lähiaikoina riekkoja on ollut syömässä pajukoissa. 1a. What does "eli" mean here? Could it be replaced with "että"? 1b. Does "joskus lähiaikoina" m

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Kaksi kysymystä 1. Jälkiä löytyi eli ainakin joskus lähiaikoina riekkoja on ollut syömässä pajukoissa. 1a. What does "eli" mean here? Could it be replaced with "että"? 1b. Does "joskus lähiaikoina" mean "sometime in the recent past"? According to the dictionary, both "joskus" and "lähiaikoina" refer to the future, although it does say that colloquially sometimes "lähiaikoina" means "recently", i.e. in the past. 2. Oli huomattu, että laiva uppoaa. 2a. Is it normal that whilst the first clause is in the past tense, that the second is in the present? 2b. Could one say "Oli huomattu, että laiva oli uppoamassa."?

Jan 3, 2016 9:30 PM

Answers · 3

Hei! Good questions. I'd say that: 1a. "Eli" means here "which means that.." ("which") referring to "jälkiä löytyi". You can not use "että" here 1b. In this sentence it means "in the recent past" because the verbs are in the past tense. It would mean "in the near future" if the verbs were in present tense. It is true that "joskus lähiaikoina" is commonly used when referring to future. In your sentence, you could use "äskettäin" instead of "joskus lähiaikoina". It means in the recent past and is always used with past tense verbs. 2a. No, it is not very common. 2b. This is a better way to say it.

January 5, 2016

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