# yksi + [noun]



## Gavril

Hyvää suununtaita,

How is _yksi _functioning in the context below? It doesn't seem to mean "one", or at least it seems to mean more than just that.



> En ole yhtään innostunut siitä, että terveydenhuollostamme tulee suurten pääomasijoittajien yksi bisnes.



"I am not at all excited at the prospect of our healthcare becoming [?] business of the large capital investors."


Kiitos


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## Grumpy Old Man

In my opinion _yksi_ is incorrectly used here.  The writer means: _yksi suurten pääomasijoittajien bisneksistä_.  This position of _yksi_ is common nowadays but I don't think the language police like it. 

Thus: _I am not at all excited at the prospect of our healthcare becoming one of the businesses of the large capital investors. / ...becoming a business of the large capital investors._


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## Gavril

Grumpy Old Man said:


> In my opinion _yksi_ is incorrectly used here.  The writer means: _yksi suurten pääomasijoittajien bisneksistä_.  This position of _yksi_ is common nowadays but I don't think the language police like it.
> 
> Thus: _I am not at all excited at the prospect of our healthcare becoming one of the businesses of the large capital investors. / ...becoming a business of the large capital investors._



Do you think it would be appropriate to translate _yksi bisnes_ here as_ just another business_, or is that not part of the speaker's intended meaning?


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## Grumpy Old Man

Gavril said:


> Do you think it would be appropriate to translate _yksi bisnes_ here as_ just another business_


That's the impression I get from the sentence.


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## Grumpy Old Man

I'll give another example to illustrate the weird position of "yksi" in modern Finnish:

_Se on Suomen *yksi* syvimmistä järvistä._

When I attended school, everybody used to say:

_Se on *yksi* Suomen syvimmistä järvistä._ (It is one of Finland's deepest lakes.)
Or: _Se on Suomen syvimpiä järviä._

I don't know why people have moved "yksi" to its present position and I think Kielitoimisto still considers the new position wrong.  I certainly do!  I wonder if it's the same people who nowadays say: _*Mitä* sinä olet *mieltä* tästä?_  I have said all my life: _*Mitä mieltä* sinä olet tästä?_

We'll probably soon also hear:

_*Minkä* sinun autosi on *värinen*?_


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## Gavril

Grumpy Old Man said:


> I'll give another example to illustrate the weird position of "yksi" in modern Finnish:
> 
> _Se on Suomen *yksi* syvimmistä järvistä._
> 
> When I attended school, everybody used to say:
> 
> _Se on *yksi* Suomen syvimmistä järvistä._ (It is one of Finland's deepest lakes.)
> Or: _Se on Suomen syvimpiä järviä._
> 
> I don't know why people have moved "yksi" to its present position and I think Kielitoimisto still considers the new position wrong.  I certainly do!  I wonder if it's the same people who nowadays say: _*Mitä* sinä olet *mieltä* tästä?_  I have said all my life: _*Mitä mieltä* sinä olet tästä?_
> 
> We'll probably soon also hear:
> 
> _*Minkä* sinun autosi on *värinen*?_



This process is called tmesis (a Greek word meaning "leikkuu" / "leikkaaminen"). I think it happens more often in languages (such as Finnish) that have clearer case endings/suffixes. E.g.,

Classical Latin
_pulchram vidi domum _"näin kauniin talon", literally "kauniin näin talon"


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