Breakdown of Asiakas kysyy kohteliaasti ja myyjä vastaa.
ja
and
kysyä
to ask
asiakas
the customer
myyjä
the salesperson
vastata
to answer
kohtelias
polite
Questions & Answers about Asiakas kysyy kohteliaasti ja myyjä vastaa.
How is the adverb kohteliaasti formed from the adjective for 'polite'?
The base adjective is kohtelias (polite). To make an adverb, you attach the suffix -sti to the word's inflectional stem. For adjectives ending in -as, the stem changes to end in -aa-, so kohtelias becomes kohteliaa-. Add -sti, and you get kohteliaasti (politely).
Both kysyy and vastaa are in the 'he/she' form. Why do they conjugate differently?
This is because they belong to different verb types. Kysyä (to ask) is a Type 1 verb. You take the stem kysy- and double the last vowel for the 'he/she' form, making it kysyy. Vastata (to answer) is a Type 4 verb. Its stem is vastaa-. Since it already ends in a double vowel, we don't add a third one; the 'he/she' form stays as vastaa.
The word for seller is myyjä. Is this related to the verb 'to sell'?
Yes! The Finnish verb 'to sell' is myydä. By taking the verb stem and adding the suffix -ja or -jä (depending on vowel harmony), you turn an action into the person doing the action. So, myy- + -jä becomes myyjä (seller or vendor).
Could we move kohteliaasti to the very end of the sentence?
Finnish word order is flexible, but you have to be careful with adverbs. If you change this to Asiakas kysyy ja myyjä vastaa kohteliaasti, it changes the meaning. It would mean that the seller is the one answering politely, rather than the customer asking politely. Adverbs usually sit right next to the verb they describe.
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