Breakdown of Poika pitää jalkapallosta, mutta tyttö tykkää tanssista.
mutta
but
poika
boy
tyttö
girl
pitää
to like
Questions & Answers about Poika pitää jalkapallosta, mutta tyttö tykkää tanssista.
Why do jalkapallosta and tanssista end in -sta?
Because of verb rection. Both pitää and tykätä (which mean 'to like') require the connected noun to be in the elative case, meaning it takes the -sta or -stä ending. You can think of it as saying you like 'from' something.
What is the difference between pitää and tykkää?
They mean the exact same thing, but tykätä is much more common in everyday spoken Finnish, whereas pitää is a bit more standard or formal. Luckily, they both behave the exact same way grammatically and require the elative case!
Why is the ending for dance -sta (tanssista) instead of -stä?
This is a great chance to review vowel harmony! The word tanssi contains the back vowel 'a'. If a Finnish word has 'a', 'o', or 'u' anywhere in it, its endings must also use back vowels. Because of that 'a', the word takes -sta.
How would the sentence change if the girl likes 'to dance' (the action) instead of 'dance' (the noun)?
If you want to express liking an action, tykätä is usually the easiest choice. You simply pair it with the basic dictionary form of the verb, without needing the -sta ending: Tyttö tykkää tanssia (The girl likes to dance).