Questions & Answers about Pidämme tästä maasta paljon.
Why are the words for 'this' and 'country' in the elative case (tästä maasta)? Doesn't that mean 'out of this country'?
While the elative case usually means 'out of' or 'from', the verb pitää (to like) is special: it requires the thing you like to be in the elative case. So, instead of saying you like something, you grammatically say you like 'out of' it! If you want to ask what someone likes, you use the elative question word mistä (from what).
Why do both tämä (this) and maa (country) get the elative ending?
In Finnish, pointer words like 'this' (tämä) must match the case of the noun they describe. Since the verb forces maa to become maasta, tämä must also follow along and change to tästä.
Why does tästä end in -stä but maasta ends in -sta?
This happens because of vowel harmony. The root word tämä has front vowels (ä), so it takes the front-vowel ending -stä. The word maa has back vowels (a), so it takes the back-vowel ending -sta.
The dictionary form for 'to like' is pitää. Why does it change to pidämme with a 'd' here?
This is due to consonant gradation, a spelling rule you might remember from earlier lessons. When we add the 'we' ending (-mme), the syllable becomes closed. This softens the strong t in pitää into a weak d in pidämme.
Learn Pidämme tästä maasta paljon 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