Breakdown of Suomalainen mies pitää jääkiekosta.
suomalainen
Finnish / Finn
mies
man
pitää
to like
jääkiekko
ice hockey
Questions & Answers about Suomalainen mies pitää jääkiekosta.
Why is 'ice hockey' written as jääkiekosta here instead of jääkiekkoa?
The verb pitää (to like) always requires the thing you like to be in the elative case, which is the -sta or -stä ending. Even though this ending usually translates as 'out of' or 'from', with pitää it simply marks the thing that is liked.
I thought pitää meant 'to have to'. How do I know it means 'to like' here?
You can tell by the grammar around it! When pitää means 'to like', the person liking is in the basic nominative case (mies) and the thing liked has the -sta/-stä ending (jääkiekosta). When pitää means 'to have to', the person who must do something takes the genitive case (miehen) and is followed by a basic verb, like Miehen pitää mennä (The man has to go).
If I want to use the verb tykätä instead of pitää, does the ending of jääkiekko change?
No, it stays exactly the same! Both pitää and tykätä require the elative case (-sta/-stä). If you use tykätä, the sentence simply becomes Suomalainen mies tykkää jääkiekosta.
Is jääkiekko a compound word?
Yes, it literally translates to 'ice puck'. It combines the words jää (ice) and kiekko (puck or disc).
Learn Suomalainen mies pitää jääkiekosta and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free