Questions & Answers about Otimme valokuvan museossa.
Why is the verb otimme instead of otamme?
Otimme is the past tense of the Type 1 verb ottaa (to take). First, the strong tt weakens to a single t. Then, we apply the past tense vowel mutation: while many Type 1 verbs change their final a to o, verbs that already have an o or u in the first syllable change their final a to i (the a drops out leaving just the past tense marker i). So, the stem otta- becomes oti-, and we add -mme for "we".
Why does valokuvan end in -n?
It is the object of the sentence. Because we took a whole photograph and the action is complete, the object takes the -n ending to show a total, finished action. This form is often called the genitive-accusative.
Is valokuva a compound word?
Yes! It is made by combining valo (light) and kuva (picture or image). So a photograph is literally a "light picture" in Finnish.
Why is it museossa and not museon?
Museossa is in the inessive case, which translates to "in" or "inside" the museum. If you used the genitive form museon, it would mean "the museum's" (like museon valokuva - the museum's photograph), which doesn't fit our meaning of taking a photo inside the building.
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