Breakdown of Lähdettekö te viikonloppuna juhlimaan vai kalastamaan?
te
you (plural/formal)
vai
or (in questions)
lähteä
to leave
viikonloppu
the weekend
juhlia
to party / to celebrate
kalastaa
to fish
Questions & Answers about Lähdettekö te viikonloppuna juhlimaan vai kalastamaan?
Why do the verbs for "party" and "fish" end in -maan?
They are in the third infinitive form. The main verb in this sentence is lähteä (to leave, to go out). When you use lähteä to say you are going somewhere to do something, the action verb must take the -maan or -mään ending.
How do we build juhlimaan and kalastamaan from their dictionary forms (juhlia and kalastaa)?
You find the strong stem of the verb, which is the same stem used for the "he/she" form (hän juhlii, hän kalastaa). Then you just add -maan. Because neither word contains the front vowels ä, ö, or y, they both take -maan instead of -mään.
Why is there a -na ending on viikonloppuna?
That is the essive case ending. While this case often translates to "as a [role]", it is also the standard way to express certain points in time, like days of the week. Here, it translates simply to "on the weekend".
Could I use tai instead of vai for "or" in this sentence?
No. In Finnish, vai is used specifically in questions when you are offering a direct choice and expect the listener to pick one. Tai is used for "or" in normal statements.
The verb lähdettekö already means "are you (plural) leaving". Why include the pronoun te?
It is completely optional! Because the verb ending -tte tells us the subject is "you" (plural), the te can be dropped. Including it just adds a little bit of emphasis, similar to asking "Are you guys going..." in English.
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