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Questions & Answers about Siat nukkuvat maatilalla.
Why is "pigs" written as siat here, and what is its partitive plural form?
Siat is the nominative plural, used here because the pigs are the subject of the sentence. The dictionary word is sika (pig). Adding the plural -t closes the syllable and triggers consonant gradation, so the strong k disappears. If you were using the partitive plural taught in this lesson, it would be sikoja, which keeps the strong k because the partitive ending -ja does not close the syllable.
Why does nukkuvat keep its strong double kk?
Consonant gradation only weakens consonants when an ending closes the syllable. The "they" ending -vat creates a new open syllable, so the stem stays strong as nukkuvat. Compare this to "I sleep" which is nukun, where the -n closes the syllable and weakens the kk to a single k.
Is it possible to use the partitive plural sikoja as the subject instead of siat?
Only in certain sentence structures, like existential sentences stating that something exists (for example, "Maatilalla on sikoja" meaning "There are pigs on the farm"). In our sentence, the pigs are the active subjects doing a specific action, so they must be in the nominative plural siat.
What are the parts that make up the word maatilalla?