Questions & Answers about Minä lainaan auton naapurilta.
Why does "from the neighbor" use -lta (naapurilta) instead of the "from" ending -sta?
In Finnish, there are two main "from" endings. We use -sta / -stä for coming out of an enclosed place (like a room or a city). But when you get something from a person, or from the outside surface of something, you use the ablative ending -lta / -ltä. Since a neighbor is a person, we use naapurilta.
I thought the verb lainata meant "to lend". Does it mean "to borrow" here?
Yes! The verb lainata is tricky because it means both "to borrow" and "to lend". You can tell which one it is by looking at the case endings of the other words. Because you are taking the car from the neighbor (naapurilta), it means you are borrowing it. If you were giving the car to the neighbor (naapurille), it would mean you are lending it.
How would I ask "Who do you borrow the car from?" using this grammar?
You would use the question word keneltä (from whom). The question would be "Keneltä sinä lainaat auton?" Notice how the question word (keneltä) and the answer (naapurilta) share the exact same ending.
Why is it auton with an -n at the end instead of just auto?