Questions & Answers about He ostavat uusia moottoripyöriä.
Why are the words for "new motorcycles" in the partitive plural (uusia moottoripyöriä) here?
In Finnish, the partitive plural is used for objects when you are talking about an unspecified amount of something (like "some new motorcycles"). If the sentence used the nominative plural (uudet moottoripyörät), it would mean they are buying all of the new motorcycles in a specific group, rather than just an indefinite amount.
How do you form the partitive plural for the word uusi (new)?
Words ending in -si have a few different stems that can trip learners up. While the singular partitive is uutta, the plural stem actually looks exactly like the basic dictionary word: uusi-. You just add the partitive ending -a to that plural stem to get uusia.
What happened to the end of the word moottoripyörä to make it moottoripyöriä?
To make a partitive plural, you need the plural marker -i- and the partitive ending (-a or -ä). When you add the plural -i- to a word that ends in -ä, that final -ä drops out. So, moottoripyörä drops its final -ä, adds the plural -i-, and then adds the partitive -ä, resulting in moottoripyöriä.
Do I always have to put the adjective in the same form as the noun it describes?