Breakdown of Minä näen kadulla isoja moottoripyöriä.
minä
I
iso
big
katu
street
nähdä
to see
moottoripyörä
motorcycle
Questions & Answers about Minä näen kadulla isoja moottoripyöriä.
Why are isoja moottoripyöriä in the partitive plural?
Because they represent an indefinite amount. You see 'some' big motorcycles on the street, not all the big motorcycles in the world. When a plural object is an open or undefined quantity, it must be in the partitive plural.
How do we get the ending -iä on moottoripyöriä?
The base word is moottoripyörä. First, we add the plural marker -i-. For words ending in -ä, we keep the vowel and add the partitive ending -ä directly after the -i-, resulting in moottoripyöriä.
Why does the adjective iso change to isoja instead of just adding the endings?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe. Since the noun is in the partitive plural, iso must be too. We add the plural -i- and partitive -a. However, to avoid the awkward vowel combination of isoia, Finnish inserts a j, making it isoja.
I remember the word for street is katu. Why is it kadulla here?
Kadulla uses the -lla (on) ending because you are physically on the surface of the street. Adding this ending closes the syllable, which triggers consonant gradation, softening the strong t in katu to a weak d.
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