Word
Minä en osaa pelata.
Meaning
I don't know how to play.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Minä en osaa pelata.
minä
I
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
osata
to know how to
pelata
to play
Questions & Answers about Minä en osaa pelata.
How do we form the negative en osaa from the dictionary form osata?
Osata is a Type 4 verb. To find the stem for negative sentences, you take the dictionary form, drop the -ta or -tä ending, and double the last vowel. Dropping -ta from osata leaves osa-, and doubling the a gives you the negative stem osaa. We just put en in front to get en osaa (I don't know how).
Why is the second verb pelata in its basic dictionary form?
When you have two verbs together expressing "knowing how to do something", the second one stays in its basic dictionary form (the infinitive). The first verb (osaa) gets changed by the negative word en, but pelata (to play) stays exactly as it is in the dictionary. By the way, pelata is also a Type 4 verb!
Could I say en tiedä instead of en osaa to say I don't know?
No, because Finnish has different words for knowing. You use tietää when you know a fact. You use osata when you know how to do a skill. Since playing a game is a skill, you must use osata here.
Do I need to include the word Minä?