Question 1

Why are pimeitä and tunneleita in the partitive plural case?

Accepted Answer

The verb pelätä (to be afraid of) always requires its object to be in the partitive case, because fearing is an ongoing emotion rather than a completed physical action. Since the children are afraid of multiple tunnels, both the adjective pimeä (dark) and the noun tunneli (tunnel) take the partitive plural endings.

Question 2

How do we get the partitive plural tunneleita from the basic word tunneli?

Accepted Answer

For many Finnish words ending in -i (especially loanwords from other languages), adding the plural -i- changes the end of the stem to -ei-. Then we add the partitive plural ending -ta or -tä. So, tunneli becomes tunneleita. You see the same pattern in words like lääkäri (doctor), which becomes lääkäreitä.

Question 3

What is the dictionary form of the verb pelkäävät, and why is there a 'k' in it?

Accepted Answer

The basic form is pelätä (to fear/be afraid). This is a verb type 4, which undergoes 'reverse' consonant gradation. That means its dictionary form is weak (it has no 'k'), but when you conjugate it, the stem becomes strong and the 'k' appears. This is why pelätä becomes he pelkäävät (they are afraid).

Question 4

The translation says 'On the bus', but bussissa has the ending for 'in'. Which case should I use for vehicles?

Accepted Answer

In English, we say 'on the bus' or 'on the train', but Finnish is more literal about being physically enclosed. For vehicles that have a roof and walls that you step inside of, Finnish uses the inessive case (-ssa or -ssä), which means 'in' or 'inside'. Therefore, it is bussissa (in the bus) and junassa (in the train).

Bussissa lapset pelkäävät pimeitä tunneleita.

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