Questions & Answers about Hän ottaa kakkua lautaselle.
Why does the word for plate end in -lle here (lautaselle)?
The -lle ending shows movement onto an outer surface. Because the cake is being moved onto the plate, we use this ending. If the cake was already resting on the plate, we would use the -lla ending (lautasella).
How do you get lautaselle from the basic dictionary word lautanen (plate)?
In Finnish, words ending in -nen change that ending to -se- before adding most grammar endings. So lautanen turns into the stem lautase-, and then you attach the -lle ending.
Why is the word for cake written as kakkua instead of just kakku?
kakkua is in the partitive case. This case is used here because he is taking some cake (a piece or portion of a larger mass), rather than a whole, entire cake.
Why does the verb ottaa look exactly like its dictionary form?
To make the hän (he/she) form for this type of verb, you take the stem (otta-) and double the last vowel. Because the stem ends in an a, adding another a makes it look exactly the same as the dictionary form ottaa!
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