Breakdown of Pojalla on kolmetoista tai viisitoista omenaa, mutta hänellä ei ole laukkua.
olla
to be
hän
he / she
mutta
but
poika
boy
tai
or
laukku
bag
ei
no / not (negative verb)
omena
apple
kolmetoista
thirteen
viisitoista
fifteen
Questions & Answers about Pojalla on kolmetoista tai viisitoista omenaa, mutta hänellä ei ole laukkua.
Why does the sentence start with pojalla instead of the basic word poika?
In Finnish, there is no direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, you use a structure that literally means 'on someone is'. To do this, you add the ending -lla to the owner. When you add this ending to poika (boy), the letter k drops out due to a spelling rule called consonant gradation, making it pojalla.
Why is the word for apple written as omenaa instead of just omena?
In Finnish, any number greater than one must be followed by a noun in the partitive case. Since the boy has thirteen (kolmetoista) or fifteen (viisitoista) apples, you add an -a to omena to make it omenaa.
How does the phrase hänellä ei ole mean 'he does not have'?
Just like the positive 'has' uses the -lla or -llä ending plus the word on (is), the negative uses the same ending plus ei ole (is not). Here, hänellä literally means 'on him', and ei ole means 'is not', so the whole phrase translates to 'he does not have'.
Why is the bag in the partitive case (laukkua) at the end of the sentence?
When you express that someone does not have something in Finnish, the thing they do not have must be put in the partitive case. So the basic word laukku (bag) takes an -a at the end to become laukkua.
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