Question 1

Why is 'those' translated as niitä here instead of the basic plural ne?

Accepted Answer

niitä is the partitive plural form of the pronoun se (it/that), which becomes ne (they/those) in the basic plural. In this sentence, the action is negative (emme osta, we do not buy). In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case. Because there are multiple shampoos, the whole object phrase (niitä kalliita shampoita) takes the partitive plural.

Question 2

How do we get the form kalliita from the basic adjective kallis (expensive)?

Accepted Answer

Words ending in -is have a special stem change for their plural forms. The plural stem of kallis is kallii-. To make it partitive plural, you just add the partitive ending -ta to this stem, resulting in kalliita.

Question 3

Why does the loanword shampoo become shampoita in the partitive plural?

Accepted Answer

For nouns ending in a long vowel like the -oo in shampoo, you form the partitive plural by adding -ita. The -i- acts as the plural marker, and -ta is the partitive ending.

Question 4

If we changed this to a positive sentence ('We buy those expensive shampoos'), would the object still be in the partitive plural?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it usually would be, but for a different reason! In a positive sentence, buying an undefined amount of a plural item requires the partitive plural. However, if you bought absolutely all of those specific shampoos, a positive sentence would use the basic plural (Me ostamme ne kalliit shampoot). In a negative sentence like this one, you do not have that choice: the object must always be in the partitive case.

Me emme osta niitä kalliita shampoita.

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