Breakdown of Minulla on kahdeksantoista ystävää, mutta hänellä on kahdeksankymmentä.
olla
to be
minä
I
hän
he / she
mutta
but
ystävä
friend
kahdeksantoista
eighteen
kahdeksankymmentä
eighty
Questions & Answers about Minulla on kahdeksantoista ystävää, mutta hänellä on kahdeksankymmentä.
How do you form numbers from 11 to 19, like kahdeksantoista (eighteen)?
You take the base number, in this case kahdeksan (8), and add -toista. The ending -toista comes from the word for 'second' (toinen). So kahdeksantoista historically means 'eight of the second group of ten'.
If kahdeksantoista is 18, how does kahdeksankymmentä mean 80?
For multiples of ten, you add -kymmentä to the base number. Kymmenen means ten, and -kymmentä is its partitive form. So kahdeksankymmentä literally translates to 'eight tens'.
Why is the word for friends ystävää instead of the basic word ystävä?
In Finnish, whenever you use a number greater than one, the noun that follows it must be in the partitive singular form. Here, the partitive of ystävä is ystävää, which is triggered by the number kahdeksantoista.
Why does the sentence use minulla on and hänellä on for 'I have' and 'he has'?
Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, you put the person who has something in the adessive case by adding -lla or -llä, followed by the verb on (is). Literally, minulla on translates to 'at me is'.
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