Questions & Answers about Minä kerron vastauksen opettajalle.
Why does opettaja (teacher) have -lle at the end?
The -lle ending is the allative case, which often translates to "to" or "onto". With verbs of communication like kertoa (to tell), you use -lle to show who you are speaking to. So opettajalle means "to the teacher".
The dictionary form of the verb is kertoa. Why does it change to kerron here?
This is due to consonant gradation. When you add the -n ending for "I", the syllable becomes closed, causing the strong consonant combination rt to soften to the weak rr.
Why is "the answer" written as vastauksen instead of its basic form vastaus?
Two things happen here. First, because "the answer" is the complete object of your action (the thing being told), it takes the -n ending. Second, Finnish words ending in -us generally change to an -ukse- stem before adding endings. So, vastaus becomes vastaukse- + n.
Could I drop the word minä and just say Kerron vastauksen opettajalle?