Breakdown of Seuraavana viikonloppuna äiti ja isä menevät ravintolaan tanssimaan.
ja
and
ravintola
restaurant
mennä
to go
äiti
mother
isä
father
viikonloppu
the weekend
seuraava
next
tanssia
to dance
Questions & Answers about Seuraavana viikonloppuna äiti ja isä menevät ravintolaan tanssimaan.
Why is it tanssimaan and not just the basic dictionary form tanssia?
When you go somewhere to do something, Finnish uses the verb mennä (to go) plus the third infinitive in the illative case, which ends in -maan or -mään. Because mom and dad are going to a restaurant in order to dance, we use tanssimaan instead of the basic infinitive tanssia.
How do we form tanssimaan from tanssia?
To form the third infinitive, you take the strong verb stem and add -maan or -mään. For tanssia (to dance), the stem is tanssi-. By adding -maan, we get tanssimaan.
Why do both the location (ravintolaan) and the activity (tanssimaan) have similar endings?
Both are in the illative case, which usually implies movement into something. The verb mennä (to go) requires its destination to be in the illative. Here, they are going into a physical place (ravintolaan) and into the action of dancing (tanssimaan).
Why does 'next weekend' translate to seuraavana viikonloppuna with the -na endings?
The ending -na is the essive case. Finnish uses this case to express when an event happens, especially with days, holidays, and times like a weekend (viikonloppu). Because adjectives must match their nouns, both seuraava (next) and viikonloppu get the -na ending.
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