Questions & Answers about Mies myy kahvia torilla.
Why is the verb just myy without an ending?
The infinitive is myydä (to sell), which is a Type 2 verb. To get the stem, you drop the -dä, leaving myy-. For the he/she/it (hän) form, you usually lengthen the last vowel of the stem. But since myy- already ends in a long double vowel, you don't add anything extra!
How do you form the negative, like "The man doesn't sell"?
You use the negative word ei and the verb stem. For myydä, the stem is myy. So you say Mies ei myy. It looks exactly like the affirmative myy, but that is just a coincidence because the hän form didn't need any extra letters added to the stem.
Why is the word for coffee kahvia instead of just kahvi?
Kahvia is in the partitive case. In Finnish, when a verb's object is an uncountable substance (like coffee, water, or rice) and you mean an indefinite amount ("some coffee"), you use the partitive case.
Why do we use torilla instead of torissa for "at the market square"?
The ending -lla means "on" or "at" an open surface. Because a market square (tori) is an open outdoor area, Finns say you are on the market square (torilla). The -ssa ending is used for being "inside" an enclosed space.
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