Breakdown of En perunut tarkastusta, koska minulla ei ollut kipua hampaassa.
olla
to be
minä
I
koska
because
ei
no / not (negative verb)
perua
to cancel
hammas
tooth
tarkastus
check-up
kipu
pain
Questions & Answers about En perunut tarkastusta, koska minulla ei ollut kipua hampaassa.
How do we form the negative past tense in en perunut (I did not cancel)?
In the past tense negative, you use the negative verb (en, et, ei, etc.) plus the past participle of the main verb. For the verb perua (to cancel), you take the stem peru- and add the ending -nut to make en perunut.
Why is the object tarkastusta in the partitive case?
In Finnish, if an action is negative, its object must always be in the partitive case. Because the sentence says you did not do the cancelling (en perunut), the base word tarkastus (check-up) takes the partitive ending -ta.
How does the grammar work in minulla ei ollut (I did not have)?
Finnish doesn't have a verb for 'to have'. To say you 'did not have' something in the past, you use the same structure as the present tense (minulla, meaning 'on me'), followed by the negative verb ei, and the past participle of the verb 'to be', which is ollut. This literally translates to 'on me it was not'.
Why does the word for tooth (hammas) change to hampaassa?
The base word is hammas, but it undergoes changes when we add the 'in' ending (-ssa). For words ending in -as, the stem changes to end in -aa-. They also take the 'strong' consonant grade in the stem, so the weak mm becomes a strong mp. This gives us the stem hampaa-, to which we add -ssa.
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