Learn Finnish: Suosittelen uusia romaaneja.

The verb suositella (to recommend) always requires its object to be in the partitive case. In Finnish, recommending is treated as an open-ended action, so we use the partitive plural uusia romaaneja instead of the regular object case.

How do we build the partitive plural romaaneja from the dictionary word romaani?

First, we find the plural stem. For many foreign loanwords ending in -i (like romaani or banaani), the -i changes to an -e- to make the plural stem (romaane-). Then, following this lesson's rule, words ending in -e often take the -ja or -jä ending. So, romaane- + -ja gives us romaaneja.

If romaaneja ends in -ja, why does the adjective uusia only end in -a?

There are a few different partitive plural endings in Finnish, and which one you use depends on the word. The dictionary form is uusi (new), and its plural stem is uusi-. Words ending in -i in their plural stem take the basic -a ending, making it uusia. The adjective still perfectly matches the noun in case and number, even though the ending letters look a bit different!

What is the dictionary form of the verb ?