Questions & Answers about Hän yrittää nukkua.
Why do the dictionary form and the "hän" form of "yrittää" look exactly the same?
Yrittää is a Verb Type 1 verb. To make the hän (he/she) form, you take the stem (yrittä-) and double the final vowel, adding another ä. This makes yrittää. Because the dictionary form also happens to end in -ää, the two forms look completely identical!
Why isn't the verb "nukkua" conjugated here?
In Finnish, when two verbs are used together to express an idea like "trying to sleep", only the first verb is conjugated. The first verb (yrittää) matches the subject (hän), while the second verb (nukkua) stays in its dictionary form (the infinitive). You will use this exact same rule with the Type 4 verbs you are learning right now, such as haluta (to want): Hän haluaa nukkua (He wants to sleep).
How would I say "He tries to sleep" instead of "He is trying to sleep"?
You would say exactly the same thing: Hän yrittää nukkua. Finnish does not have a separate continuous tense like the English "is trying". The standard present tense covers both "tries" and "is trying" depending on the context.
I remember "nukkua" drops a "k" in some forms. Why does it have a double "kk" in this sentence?
Nukkua undergoes consonant gradation, meaning it drops a k in "weak" conjugated forms like minä nukun (I sleep). However, the dictionary form (infinitive) of Verb Type 1 verbs always uses the "strong" grade. Because it follows yrittää, it must stay in its strong dictionary form.
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