Onko täällä seitsemäntoista vai kahdeksantoista ihmistä?
Are there seventeen or eighteen people here?
Breakdown of Onko täällä seitsemäntoista vai kahdeksantoista ihmistä?
olla
to be
täällä
here
vai
or (in questions)
ihminen
human
seitsemäntoista
seventeen
kahdeksantoista
eighteen
Questions & Answers about Onko täällä seitsemäntoista vai kahdeksantoista ihmistä?
Why does the sentence start with Onko (is) instead of a plural verb like ovatko (are), since we are talking about multiple people?
In Finnish, sentences that state what exists in a place always use the singular verb on (is), even if there are multiple things. When you add the question ending -ko, it becomes Onko (Is there / Are there).
Why does the sentence use vai to mean 'or' instead of tai?
Finnish has two different words for 'or'. You must use vai in questions when you expect the listener to pick exactly one of the options provided (seventeen or eighteen). You use tai in normal statements, or in questions where you aren't asking the listener to make a choice.
Why is the word for people (ihmistä) in the partitive singular case rather than a plural form?
Where does the ending -toista come from in the words seitsemäntoista and kahdeksantoista?
The ending -toista literally means 'of the second'. It is used for numbers 11 through 19 to show that they belong to the second set of ten. Therefore, seitsemäntoista translates literally as 'seven of the second ten'.
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