olla koira haudattuna
Finnish
Etymology
Derived from a calque of Swedish här ligger en hund begraven, which is related to German da liegt der Hund begraben.
This idiomatic expression is almost never used in the infinitive, but also in those rare cases the verb olla means "to be" in the sense of "exist", which is normally expressed using the expression "there is" in English. Normally the Finnish expression is used in the form siinä/siihen on koira haudattuna, whose literal translation would be there is a dog buried there.
Verb
olla koira haudattuna
- (idiomatic) to be fishy, to seem fishy, to be a catch (used when something, such as a deal, seems suspicious)
- Tähän on varmasti jokin koira haudattuna.
- There is surely a catch here. / This sure seems fishy.
Usage notes
Depending on the context, an appropriate English translation could also be (to) smell a rat (however, the subject of this English expression is the person noticing that something is suspicious rather than what is suspicious).
Conjugation
See olla; koira haudattuna is not inflected.