# "niin" in conditional sentences



## Gavril

Would you consider the following sentences acceptable without the word _niin_?


_Jos he eivät lähetä meille mitään varoja myytäviksi, *niin* miten pidämme myymälää toiminnalla??_

_Jos kerää ohdakkeita, *niin *pitäisi odottaa piikejä._


Hyvää hiihtolomaa (ellei se ole jo ohi?)


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## Grumpy Old Man

The sentences are fine without _niin._ I would definitely omit it. However, there are other problems.

_"Jos he eivät lähetä meille mitään varoja myytäviksi, *niin* miten pidämme myymälää toiminna*ssa*?_"

I have corrected the obvious mistake. I would also prefer _myymälä*n* toiminnassa. _The beginning is correct grammatically but the idea of _myydä varoja_ is odd because _varat_ usually means "money". One doesn't usually sell money. It is also more common to say _myytäv*ä*ksi_ even though _varoja_ is plural.

_"Jos kerää ohdakkeita, *niin *pitäisi odottaa pii*kk*ejä."_
Double k in _piikkejä._ The sentence is grammatical and easily understandable. I don't think many Finns would ever utter it, though. If I were ever to say something like the idea expressed in the sentence, I would avoid _odottaa: Jos kerää ohdakkeita, pitää varautua piikkeihin. _Or: _Jos kerää ohdakkeita, ei pidä yllättyä piikeistä.

_GOM


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## sakvaka

Grumpy Old Man said:


> The sentences are fine without _niin._ I would definitely omit it. However, there are other problems.



How about in spoken language? Do you feel an instinctive urge to add _niin_?

@Gavril: (Koko?) Uudellamaalla hiihtoloma alkoi tänä viikonloppuna. Sen sijaan täällä Itä-Suomessa on vielä viikko koulua. Oh, and _varat _= assets.


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## Grumpy Old Man

sakvaka said:


> How about in spoken language? Do you feel an instinctive urge to add _niin_?


I guess I might use it in informal style.

GOM


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## Gavril

Grumpy Old Man said:


> _"Jos he eivät lähetä meille mitään varoja myytäviksi, *niin* miten pidämme myymälää toiminna*ssa*?_"
> 
> I have corrected the obvious mistake.



What's the obvious mistake (just curious)? I don't see a difference between your corrected sentence and my original sentence, other than _toiminnassa._



> I would also prefer _myymälä*n* toiminnassa. _The beginning is correct grammatically but the idea of _myydä varoja_ is odd because _varat_ usually means "money". One doesn't usually sell money.


Sorry, I should have used _tavara_ instead of _varat_.

I used _varat _because the WSOY dictionary translates _varat _as "supplies"; however, that isn't necessarily the same thing as "wares (for selling)".


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## Gavril

sakvaka said:


> How about in spoken language? Do you feel an instinctive urge to add _niin_?



Would you say that the younger generation tends to use _niin _in the type of sentences we're discussing? (Oletan, että olet nuorempi kuin GOM, vaikken muista juuri minkä perusteella.)


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## Grumpy Old Man

Gavril said:


> What's the obvious mistake (just curious)? I don't see a difference between your corrected sentence and my original sentence, other than _toiminnassa._


You have spotted the obvious mistake.

GOM


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## Gavril

Grumpy Old Man said:


> You have spotted the obvious mistake.
> 
> GOM



Ah, I was thrown off by the word "also" in your answer ("I would also prefer _myymälä*n* toiminnassa._"), because I didn't notice (until now) that you were referring to the _-n _in _myymälän_, rather than to the _-ssa _in _toiminnassa._


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