Breakdown of Ihmiset ovat lahjoittaneet paljon ruokaa ja rahaa.
olla
to be
ja
and
ruoka
food
paljon
a lot
ihminen
human
raha
money
lahjoittaa
to donate
Questions & Answers about Ihmiset ovat lahjoittaneet paljon ruokaa ja rahaa.
Why does the verb lahjoittaneet end in -neet?
This is the active past participle plural. Because the subject is plural (ihmiset, people), the main verb in the perfect tense must also take the plural form. For verb type 1 words like lahjoittaa (to donate), you use the strong stem (lahjoitta-) and add -neet. If the subject were singular, it would be on lahjoittanut.
Why do we use ovat lahjoittaneet instead of just lahjoittivat?
Ovat lahjoittaneet is the perfect tense, meaning 'have donated.' Just like in English, it is formed using the verb olla (here as the plural ovat) plus the past participle. You use this tense to talk about a past action that is still relevant right now. Lahjoittivat is the simple past tense ('they donated').
Why are the words ruokaa and rahaa in the partitive case?
They are in the partitive case because they follow the word paljon (a lot). In Finnish, paljon always requires the noun it describes to be in the partitive singular. So, the basic forms ruoka and raha become ruokaa and rahaa.
What is the rule for turning ihminen into the plural ihmiset?
Ihminen (human/person) belongs to a very common group of words ending in -nen. To make the plural, the -nen ending changes to -se- before you add the regular plural -t marker. Therefore, ihminen becomes ihmiset.
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