Word
Hän lakkaa tupakoimasta, koska se on paha tapa.
Meaning
He stops smoking because it is a bad habit.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Hän lakkaa tupakoimasta, koska se on paha tapa.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
hän
he / she
koska
because
Questions & Answers about Hän lakkaa tupakoimasta, koska se on paha tapa.
Why does the verb for smoking have the ending -masta here?
The verb lakata (to stop) requires the action you are stopping to take the third infinitive elative form, which ends in -masta or -mästä. In Finnish grammar, you do not just stop doing something; you stop 'from' doing it. So, tupakoida (to smoke) becomes tupakoimasta (from smoking).
How exactly do you build tupakoimasta from the dictionary form tupakoida?
tupakoida is a verb type 2, meaning it ends in -da or -dä. To get the stem for the third infinitive, you simply drop that ending. That leaves you with tupakoi-. Then you attach the third infinitive marker -ma- and the elative case ending -sta, giving you tupakoimasta.
The word lakkaa looks a bit strange. What is its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is lakata, which is a verb type 4 meaning 'to stop' or 'to cease'. To conjugate type 4 verbs, you remove the -ta or -tä, apply consonant gradation (here, adding a 'k'), and add the personal ending. The hän form extends the final vowel, creating the word lakkaa.
Does the word tapa always mean 'habit'?