Questions & Answers about Bussissa on neljätoista ihmistä.
Why does the sentence use the singular verb on instead of a plural verb for fourteen people?
In Finnish, sentences that state where something is or that something exists (often called existential sentences) always use the singular verb on, even if there are multiple things. The sentence is structured literally as "In the bus is fourteen people."
Why is the word for people ihmistä instead of the basic form ihminen?
Whenever you use a number greater than one (like neljätoista), the noun that follows it must be in the partitive case. Ihmistä is the partitive singular form of ihminen.
How does the basic word ihminen change into ihmistä?
For Finnish words ending in -nen, you drop the -nen and replace it with -s to find the base stem before attaching the partitive ending. Here, the stem becomes ihmis-, and we add the partitive ending -tä, giving us ihmistä.
Why does the sentence start with Bussissa instead of the people?
Finnish typically starts this type of sentence with the location to set the scene. If you started with the people (Neljätoista ihmistä on bussissa), it would change the meaning slightly to "The fourteen people are in the bus," which talks about specific people you already know about, rather than just introducing the fact that they are there.