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Questions & Answers about Ostan kaksikymmentäkolme omenaa.
Why does omena have an extra a at the end to make omenaa?
When a noun follows a number greater than one, it must be put into the partitive case. To make the partitive form of omena, you simply add an -a to the end.
Why is the number 23 written as one long word, kaksikymmentäkolme?
In Finnish, numbers between 11 and 99 are always written together as a single compound word. This one translates literally as kaksi (two) kymmentä (tens) kolme (three).
Why is the word for ten written as kymmentä instead of the basic kymmenen?
This uses the exact same rule as the apples! Because the number kaksi (two) is greater than one, the word for ten (kymmenen) must also be in the partitive case, which is kymmentä.
Why is there no word for I in this sentence?
The -n ending on the verb ostan already means I. Because this verb ending makes it completely clear who is doing the action, it is very common to leave out the pronoun minä.