Breakdown of Minä tallennan uuden salasanan tiedostoon.
minä
I
uusi
new
salasana
password
tiedosto
file
tallentaa
to save
Questions & Answers about Minä tallennan uuden salasanan tiedostoon.
Why do we use tiedostoon (into the file) instead of tiedostossa (in the file)?
In Finnish, the verb tallentaa (to save) is treated as an action of movement. You are putting data into a destination. Because of this, it requires the illative ("into") case ending -on, rather than the inessive ("in") case.
Why do uusi (new) and salasana (password) change to uuden salasanan here?
They are the object of the sentence. Since saving a password is a complete action directed at the whole thing, the object takes the genitive-like accusative ending -n. Notice that the stem of uusi changes to uude- before adding the -n.
What happens to the verb tallentaa to make it tallennan?
Tallentaa is a Type 1 verb. When you add the personal ending -n for "I", the word undergoes consonant gradation. The strong nt combination in the middle of the word weakens to a double nn.
This lesson is about past tense verbs with the -itsi- marker. Would I use that to say "I saved"?
No, because tallentaa is a Type 1 verb, not a Type 5 verb. Type 5 verbs typically end in -ita or -itä (like tarvita or valita). To say "I saved" with this Type 1 verb, you use its standard past tense form: minä tallensin.
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