Breakdown of Poliisi etsii turvallisia suojateitä.
etsiä
to look for
poliisi
the police / police officer
turvallinen
safe
suojatie
crosswalk
Questions & Answers about Poliisi etsii turvallisia suojateitä.
Why is the object turvallisia suojateitä in the partitive plural instead of the regular plural?
The verb etsiä (to look for) always requires its object to be in the partitive case. Because the police are looking for multiple crosswalks, both the adjective and the noun must be in the partitive plural.
How do we get turvallisia from the basic form turvallinen?
For adjectives ending in -nen, you replace the -nen with -s- before adding plural endings. When you add the plural marker -i- and the partitive ending -a, the end result is -sia. Therefore, turvallinen becomes turvallisia.
How does the word suojatie change to suojateitä?
suojatie is a compound word ending in tie (road). When changing short words ending in the -ie- vowel pair into the plural, the first vowel (i) is dropped. Then we add the plural -i- and the partitive ending -tä, so tie becomes teitä.
Why does the Finnish sentence use the singular verb etsii when the English translation says "are looking"?
In English, "police" is often treated as a plural group. In Finnish, poliisi is grammatically a singular word when referring to the police as an institution or a single officer. Because the subject is singular, it takes the singular verb etsii.
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