Breakdown of He eivät ole saaneet päätöstä.
olla
to be
he
they
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
saada
to get
Questions & Answers about He eivät ole saaneet päätöstä.
Why is the auxiliary verb ole instead of ovat here?
In the negative perfect tense, only the negative verb (eivät) changes to match the subject. The auxiliary verb olla stays in its basic stem form, which is ole, for all persons (such as minä en ole or he eivät ole).
Why does the main verb saaneet end in -neet instead of -nut?
In the perfect tense, the main verb must match whether the subject is singular or plural. Because the subject he (they) is plural, the verb takes the plural ending -neet. If the subject were singular (like hän), it would be saanut.
How do you form saaneet from the dictionary form saada?
Saada (to get or receive) is a Type 2 verb. To make the plural past participle, you remove the -da ending to get the stem saa-, and then add the plural ending -neet directly to it.
Why is the word for 'decision' in the partitive case (päätöstä)?
In Finnish, if a sentence with an object is negative, the object almost always has to be in the partitive case. The basic form is päätös, and adding the partitive ending -tä makes it päätöstä.