Questions & Answers about Minä kastuin, ja minun paitani on märkä.
How did we form the past tense 'kastuin'?
The basic verb is kastua (to get wet), which is a Type 1 verb. To make it past tense, we take the stem kastu-, add the past tense marker -i-, and attach the personal ending -n for 'I'. Because the stem ends in the short vowel u, the -i- just slides right next to it to make kastuin.
The English translation has 'wet' twice. Why are the Finnish words different?
English uses the same word for the process of getting wet and the state of being wet. Finnish has two different words: kastua is a verb that means 'to become wet', while märkä is an adjective describing something that is already wet.
Why does 'paitani' have an extra '-ni' at the end?
This is the possessive suffix for 'my'. When you say 'my shirt' in standard Finnish, you use the pronoun minun (my) and also add the matching ending -ni to paita (shirt). It works like a double-tag to show ownership.
Can I leave out the word 'minun' and just say 'paitani on märkä'?
Yes! Because the suffix -ni already tells us it is 'my' shirt, the word minun is optional. Keeping minun just adds a bit of emphasis.