pitää kynttiläänsä vakan alla
Finnish edit
Etymology edit
Literally, “to keep one's candle under the bushel”, from the Bible.
Verb edit
- (idiomatic) to hide one's light under a bushel (to conceal one's talents or positive qualities, especially due to modesty or shyness; to avoid attention)
- Älä pidä kynttilääsi vakan alla!
- Don't hide your light under a bushel!
Conjugation edit
See pitää. kynttiläänsä is in the partitive case, but is inflected in the genitive in action nouns: see Appendix:Finnish verb phrases. It also takes a possessive suffix according to the subject of the sentence. vakan alla is not inflected.
| possessor | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | kynttilääni | kynttiläämme |
| 2nd person | kynttilääsi | kynttiläänne |
| 3rd person | kynttiläänsä | |