Questions & Answers about Lapset käyttävät uusia suojateitä.
Why are the words uusia and suojateitä in the partitive case here?
The verb käyttää (to use) is a partitive verb, meaning its object must always be in the partitive case. Since the children are using multiple crosswalks, both the adjective uusia and the noun suojateitä are in the partitive plural.
How do we get the partitive plural form uusia from the basic word uusi (new)?
To form the partitive plural, we take the plural stem of the word and add the partitive ending -a or -ä. For the word uusi, the plural stem is uusi-. Adding the partitive ending gives us uusia. Notice how this is different from the partitive singular form, which is uutta.
How is suojateitä formed from the dictionary form suojatie (crosswalk)?
Suojatie is a compound word ending in tie (road). For words ending in two different vowels, we form the plural stem by dropping the first vowel and adding the plural marker -i-. So, tie becomes tei-. Then we add the partitive plural ending -tä to get suojateitä.
The object is in the partitive plural, but why isn't the subject (lapset) also in the partitive?
In a standard sentence like this, the subject is in the nominative case (the basic form) whether it is singular (lapsi) or plural (lapset). The partitive plural is required here for the object because of the verb käyttää, but verbs don't force the subject into the partitive.
Learn Lapset käyttävät uusia suojateitä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free