# sen voi



## oloekis

*Sen* voi helposti poimia kainaloon ja kantaa mukana, minne sitten onkin menossa.


Moi, I am trying to understand why it is "sen" instead of "se" in the above sentence. Is my assumption correct that this "sen" is genitive form of "se", or is it something else? 

Also is the literal translation something like "it's easy to pick up to your armpit and carry along where ever one is going"?

Thanks for the help.


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## Armas

Hello, your translation is correct but _Sen voi helposti poimia_ is literally "One can easily pick it up". _Sen_ is the object of _poimia_, thus the genitive case.


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## oloekis

Hi Armas, 

I am a bit confused about the word order now you say "sen" here is object. Shouldn't it be "(subject) voi helposti poimia sen" if "sen" is objective?


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## DrWatson

_Sen _is the object, and there's no subject in the sentence. This is called _nollapersoona _'zero person' and it refers to indefinite or generic referents, as in anyone or everyone.


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## Gavril

littlemonyou said:


> Shouldn't it be "(subject) voi helposti poimia sen" if "sen" is objective?



Word order in Finnish is variable; it isn't always subject-verb-object. When the verb is impersonal (i.e. when the verb has no explicit subject, like _voi_ in this case), it is common to have the object precede the verb rather than follow it. Another example of this (besides your original sentence) is,

_Sähköä voi tuottaa sekä tuulen että veden avulla._
"One can generate electricity with both wind and water."


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## oloekis

Kiitos, Gavril & DrWatson!


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