Breakdown of Arvosana oli huono, mutta opiskelija hymyili.
olla
to be
mutta
but
hymyillä
to smile
huono
bad
opiskelija
student
arvosana
the grade
Questions & Answers about Arvosana oli huono, mutta opiskelija hymyili.
How do we form the past tense hymyili from the dictionary form?
The verb is hymyillä (to smile), which is a Type 3 verb. First, find the consonant stem by dropping the -lä ending, giving you hymyil-. Next, add the past tense marker -i-. Because this is the third-person singular (he/she/it) form, there is no extra personal ending added after the -i-, so we just get hymyili.
opiskelija looks a lot like the verb opiskella (to study). How are they connected?
opiskella is the verb (and also a Type 3 verb!), while opiskelija is the noun for the person doing the action. Adding -ja or -jä to a verb's vowel stem is a common way to create words for people's roles or professions in Finnish, just like adding '-er' to verbs in English.
Why is the past tense of 'to be' oli here instead of something longer?
olla (to be) is technically a Type 3 verb, but it is irregular. The present tense 'he/she/it' form is on, and in the past tense it simply becomes oli. Because it is the most common verb in the language, it is best to memorize its forms separately rather than trying to apply standard rules to it.
Is arvosana (grade) a compound word?
Yes! It is built from arvo (value, worth) and sana (word). In Finnish, a school grade is literally a 'value word'.
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