Breakdown of Mies ostaa viisikymmentäneljä tomaattia.
mies
man
neljä
four
ostaa
to buy
tomaatti
tomato
viisikymmentä
fifty
Questions & Answers about Mies ostaa viisikymmentäneljä tomaattia.
Why is "viisikymmentäneljä" written as one long word?
In Finnish, numbers up to 99 are written together as a single word! If we break it down, viisi means five, kymmentä is a form of the word ten, and neljä is four. It literally translates to five tens and four.
Why is it tomaattia instead of a plural form?
In English, we say fifty-four tomatoes using the plural. However, in Finnish, any number greater than one must be followed by a noun in the partitive singular case. Because of the number, we use the partitive singular tomaattia instead of the normal plural tomaatit.
How do we form the partitive word tomaattia?
The basic dictionary form of the word is tomaatti. Since it ends in a single vowel, you form the partitive case by simply adding an -a to the very end of the word.
There is no word for "The" at the start of the sentence. How do we know it means "The man"?
Finnish does not have articles like "a" or "the". The word mies can mean "a man" or "the man"! You usually figure out which one makes the most sense based on the context of the story or conversation.
Learn Mies ostaa viisikymmentäneljä tomaattia 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