Breakdown of Me emme ole nähneet päätöstä.
olla
to be
me
we
ei
no / not (negative verb)
nähdä
to see
päätös
decision
Questions & Answers about Me emme ole nähneet päätöstä.
Why doesn't the verb ole change to match me (we)?
In the negative perfect tense, the helping verb olla always stays in its base form, ole, no matter who is acting. The 'we' part is already shown by the negative verb emme and the plural ending on the main verb (nähneet).
Why is the main verb nähneet instead of nähnyt?
Because the subject Me (we) is plural. In the perfect tense, the main verb's participle ending must match whether the subject is singular or plural. Singular subjects use -nut or -nyt, but plural subjects use -neet.
How do we form nähneet from the dictionary word nähdä (to see)?
Nähdä is a Type 2 verb. To make this plural past participle, you simply drop the infinitive ending -dä to find the stem (näh-) and add the plural ending -neet.
Why is the object päätöstä in the partitive case?
Because this is a negative sentence. In Finnish, if an action doesn't happen (or hasn't happened), the object of that sentence must be in the partitive case. The dictionary form päätös (decision) takes the partitive ending -tä to become päätöstä.
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