Breakdown of Miksi myyjä torilla ei puhu selkeästi?
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
puhua
to speak
miksi
why
tori
market square
myyjä
the salesperson
selkeä
clear
Questions & Answers about Miksi myyjä torilla ei puhu selkeästi?
How is the adverb selkeästi formed here?
It is formed by taking the adjective selkeä (clear) and adding the adverb suffix -sti, which works just like "-ly" in English. Because selkeä ends in a vowel, you can attach the suffix directly to the basic word without changing the stem.
Why is the verb ei puhu and not ei puhuu?
In Finnish, negative sentences use the negative verb (here, ei for he/she) plus the main verb without its personal ending. This stripped-down form is called the connegative. So, the normal form puhuu loses its extra -u to become ei puhu.
Why does the sentence say myyjä torilla instead of putting the location at the beginning?
While you could say torilla myyjä ei puhu selkeästi, keeping torilla (at the market) right after myyjä (the seller) acts like a descriptive phrase. It specifically identifies which seller you are talking about: the seller at the market.
How does the word myyjä get its meaning?
It is built from the verb myydä (to sell). The suffix -ja or -jä is added to a verb stem to create a noun for the person who does that action, exactly like the "-er" ending in English (sell becomes seller).
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