Breakdown of Me emme pese pyykkiä keittiössä.
me
we
ei
no / not (negative verb)
keittiö
kitchen
pestä
to wash
pyykki
laundry
Questions & Answers about Me emme pese pyykkiä keittiössä.
Why is the word for laundry pyykkiä instead of just pyykki?
Because this is a negative sentence! In Finnish, when you have an object (the thing being acted upon) in a negative sentence, it must always be in the partitive case. The basic word pyykki gets the partitive ending -ä to become pyykkiä.
Why is the verb pese instead of pesemme?
In negative sentences, the negative word does the heavy lifting. The word ei changes to emme to show 'we don't'. Because the negative verb already shows who is doing the action, the main verb (pese) drops its -mme ending and stays in its basic negative form.
The dictionary form for 'to wash' is pestä. How do we get the form pese?
To find the negative form of a verb, you can look at the 'I' form and remove the -n. For example, 'I wash' is minä pesen. If you drop the -n, you are left with pese, which is the form you use after a negative word like emme.
Why does the ending on pyykkiä use an -ä instead of an -a?
This is due to vowel harmony. The word pyykki contains the front vowel y. In Finnish, words with front vowels take endings with front vowels, so the partitive ending becomes -ä instead of -a.
What does the -ssä ending on keittiössä do?
The -ssä ending means 'in' or 'inside' (this is called the inessive case). It attaches directly to the base word keittiö (kitchen) to mean 'in the kitchen'.
Learn Me emme pese pyykkiä keittiössä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free