Breakdown of Nuori mies ei ajattele.
mies
man
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
nuori
young
ajatella
to think
Questions & Answers about Nuori mies ei ajattele.
What is the dictionary form of ajattele, and how do we make this negative form?
The dictionary form is ajatella (to think). It is a Type 3 verb, which usually ends in two consonants and a vowel (like -lla). To get the negative stem for a Type 3 verb, you drop the final two letters (-la) and add an -e. This gives us the stem ajattele, which we use directly after the negative word.
Why isn't there a personal ending on ajattele?
In Finnish negative sentences, the negative verb (here, ei) does the work of showing who is doing the action. The main verb just uses its plain stem (sometimes called the connegative form) and drops any personal endings.
Why do we use ei as the negative word here?
The negative verb always has to match the subject of the sentence. Nuori mies (the young man) is a third-person singular subject (equivalent to "he"). The correct negative verb for "he/she/it" is ei. If the subject were "I", it would be en ajattele.
How would I say "The young man thinks" in the affirmative?
To make it affirmative, you take the stem ajattele- and add the third-person singular ending. For "he/she/it", the rule is to double the last vowel of the stem. So ajattele- becomes ajattelee, making the sentence Nuori mies ajattelee.