Questions & Answers about Mies ottaa olutta.
Why is the word for beer olutta here instead of just olut?
How is the partitive form olutta made?
The basic dictionary word is olut. For words that end in a consonant, the partitive ending is usually -ta or -tä. Since olut ends in -t, we add -ta, resulting in olutta.
There are no words for "the" or "some" in the Finnish sentence. How do we know to translate it that way?
Finnish doesn't have articles like "a" or "the". Mies simply means man, but at the start of a sentence as the subject, it is usually translated as "The man". The word "some" is implied by the partitive case on olutta, which tells us he is taking an unspecified amount of beer rather than the whole thing.
The word for "I take" is otan with one t. Why does ottaa have a double tt?
The dictionary form of the verb is ottaa. This verb undergoes consonant gradation, meaning the core consonants change depending on the ending. The "I" ending (-n) causes the strong double tt to weaken to a single t (otan). However, the "he/she" form just lengthens the final vowel, which doesn't weaken the consonants, so the strong double tt stays in ottaa.
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