Breakdown of Lääkäri tulee uuteen kerrokseen.
uusi
new
lääkäri
doctor
tulla
to come
kerros
floor (level of a building)
Questions & Answers about Lääkäri tulee uuteen kerrokseen.
Why do both uuteen and kerrokseen end with -een?
They are in the illative case, which expresses movement 'into' or 'to' a place. When someone is coming to a floor, Finnish adds an ending that usually doubles the last vowel and adds an -n. Because the adjective for 'new' (uusi) describes the 'floor' (kerros), they must both take this exact same ending.
The dictionary word for 'new' is uusi. Why is it uuteen here?
Finnish words often change their core shape (the stem) before endings are added. For words ending in -si like uusi, the -si changes to -te- when adding most endings. So uusi becomes uute-, and then we add the -en ending to get uuteen.
How does kerros (floor) change into kerrokseen?
Just like the word for 'new', kerros changes its stem before we add the location ending. For many words ending in -os or -es, the stem replaces the final -s with -kse-. So kerros becomes kerrokse-. Then we double the last vowel (e) and add -n, making it kerrokseen.
Can I just say 'Lääkäri tulee uusi kerros'?
No, because Finnish uses word endings instead of separate preposition words like 'to' or 'into'. Without the endings, your sentence sounds like 'The doctor comes the new floor'. The verb tulla (to come) requires a destination ending on the target words when someone is arriving somewhere.
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