Word
He eivät odota ulkona.
Meaning
They are not waiting outside.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of He eivät odota ulkona.
he
they
ulkona
outside
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
odottaa
to wait
Questions & Answers about He eivät odota ulkona.
Why is the negative verb eivät instead of just ei?
In Finnish, the negative word for "no/not" is actually a verb that conjugates to match the subject. Since the subject is he (they), the negative verb takes the "they" form, which is eivät.
How is the form odota made from the dictionary verb odottaa?
To make the negative form of a Type 1 verb like odottaa (to wait), you first find the stem by dropping the last letter (the final -a). Then, you apply the weak grade for consonant gradation. The double -tt- weakens to a single -t-, giving us the stem odota.
Since the subject is "they", why doesn't the main verb have the -vat ending?
In negative sentences, only the negative verb takes the personal ending (like the -vät in eivät). The main verb is stripped down to its connegative stem (odota) and doesn't get any extra endings for who is doing the action.
Are there other words for "outside" besides ulkona?
Yes! Ulkona specifically means being outside in a location. If you were going to the outside (expressing motion), you would use the word ulos instead. Here, they are waiting in a static location, so we use ulkona.