Word
Täällä on kolmetoista poikaa ja neljätoista tyttöä.
Meaning
There are thirteen boys and fourteen girls here.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Täällä on kolmetoista poikaa ja neljätoista tyttöä.
Why does the sentence use on (is) instead of ovat (are) when there are multiple boys and girls?
In Finnish, sentences that state that or where something exists (like "There is..." or "Here is...") usually have the verb in the singular form on, even if there are many things. So literally, this sentence says "Here is thirteen boys...".
How do the numbers kolmetoista (13) and neljätoista (14) work?
For numbers 11 through 19, you just take the basic number (kolme for 3, neljä for 4) and add -toista. The ending -toista literally means "of the second" (meaning the second group of ten).
Why are poikaa and tyttöä in the partitive form instead of the basic plural?
In Finnish, any number greater than one is followed by the partitive singular form of the noun. You don't use the plural form! Because we are counting 13 and 14, poika becomes poikaa and tyttö becomes tyttöä.
Why does the partitive ending look different for poikaa (ending in -a) and tyttöä (ending in -ä)?