Questions & Answers about Repussa on kuiva paita.
Why does the sentence start with Repussa instead of starting with the shirt?
The dictionary word for backpack is reppu. Why does it only have one 'p' in Repussa?
This happens because of consonant gradation. Adding the -ssa (in) ending closes the last syllable. This makes the strong double consonant pp in reppu weaken to a single p in repussa.
Why is it kuiva paita and not the partitive form kuivaa paitaa?
Even though existential sentences often use the partitive case for their subjects, singular countable things like a shirt (paita) stay in the basic nominative form when the sentence is positive. You would only use the partitive here if the noun was an uncountable mass (like water) or if the sentence was negative (there is not a dry shirt).
If I wanted to say 'in the dry backpack', would kuiva change its ending too?
Yes! In Finnish, adjectives must match the case of the noun they describe. Since reppu becomes repussa, a describing adjective would change to match it: kuivassa repussa. In our current sentence, kuiva describes the shirt, which is in the basic form, so the adjective stays basic too.