Breakdown of Insinööri suunnittelee uusia siltoja ja tunneleita.
ja
and
uusi
new
insinööri
engineer
suunnitella
to plan
silta
bridge
tunneli
tunnel
Questions & Answers about Insinööri suunnittelee uusia siltoja ja tunneleita.
Why are the objects uusia siltoja and tunneleita in the partitive plural?
The verb suunnitella (to design) often expresses an ongoing, incomplete action. Because the engineer is in the process of designing multiple things, the objects take the partitive plural form.
How does the word uusi (new) become uusia here?
For many words ending in -si, the partitive plural is formed by adding -a to the plural stem. The plural stem of uusi is uusi-, so it simply becomes uusia. Notice how the adjective must match the case of the nouns it describes!
Why does the ending of silta (bridge) change to -oja in siltoja?
When a word ends in -a, that final vowel often changes to -o- before the plural -i- marker. So silta becomes the stem siltoi-. When a stem ends in -oi-, the partitive ending becomes -ja instead of -a to make it easier to pronounce, giving us siltoja.
Why does tunneli (tunnel) take the ending -ta to become tunneleita?
For loan words and many nouns ending in -i, the plural stem changes the final -i to -ei-, giving us tunnelei-. Because this plural stem ends in a diphthong (two vowels together), the partitive plural ending must be -ta instead of just -a.
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