Questions & Answers about Kauppa myy olutta ja viiniä.
Why do we use olutta and viiniä instead of their basic forms olut and viini?
Both "beer" and "wine" are uncountable liquids, often called mass nouns. When a sentence has an object that represents an indefinite amount of a mass noun (meaning "some beer" or "some wine"), Finnish puts those words into the partitive case.
Why is the partitive ending for wine -ä (viiniä) but for beer it is -ta (olutta)?
The partitive ending changes depending on the word's final letter. Viini ends in a single vowel, so it takes the standard single-vowel ending (-a or -ä). Olut ends in a consonant (t). Words ending in t usually take the -ta or -tä ending.
Why does viiniä take the -ä ending instead of -a?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word viini only contains the vowel i. When a word only has the vowels i or e, it takes the "front vowel" endings, so we use -ä instead of -a.
What is the dictionary form of the verb myy?
The dictionary form is myydä (to sell). To make the "he/she/it" form, you normally take the stem (myy-) and double the last vowel. However, since the stem already has a double vowel (yy), Finnish doesn't add a third one. Therefore, the "it sells" form is just myy.
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