Breakdown of Laiva on ylittänyt valtameren nopeasti.
olla
to be
laiva
ship
nopeasti
fast
ylittää
to cross / to exceed
valtameri
ocean
Questions & Answers about Laiva on ylittänyt valtameren nopeasti.
How is the perfect tense formed in the phrase on ylittänyt?
The perfect tense in Finnish is built using the verb olla (to be) as a helper verb, followed by the past participle of the main verb. In this sentence, on is in the third-person singular to match the subject laiva (the ship), and ylittänyt is the past participle of the verb ylittää (to cross).
Why does the past participle ylittänyt end in -nyt?
The ending -nyt is used to form the active past participle for singular subjects. Because laiva is just one ship, we use the singular ending. If the sentence were about multiple ships, the plural ending -neet would be used instead: Laivat ovat ylittäneet...
Why is the word for ocean written as valtameren instead of its basic form, valtameri?
Valtameren is the direct object of the sentence. Because the perfect tense here describes a fully completed action in an affirmative sentence (the ship has crossed it completely), the object takes the genitive-like -n ending. If the crossing was still ongoing, or if the sentence was negative, it would use the partitive case (valtamerta).
How do we get the word nopeasti (quickly)?
In Finnish, you can often turn an adjective into an adverb (similar to adding "-ly" in English) by adding the suffix -sti. The base adjective here is nopea (quick), so adding -sti makes it nopeasti (quickly).
Is valtameri a compound word?
Yes! It is made up of the words valta (power, might, or vastness) and meri (sea). So an ocean in Finnish is literally described as a "mighty sea" or "vast sea".
Learn Laiva on ylittänyt valtameren nopeasti and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free