Questions & Answers about Mies luki isoja kylttejä.
Why is the object isoja kylttejä in the partitive plural?
Because the action of reading was ongoing and uncompleted, which requires a partitive object. The plural partitive marker -j- tells us he was reading multiple signs.
How does the word kyltti become kylttejä?
To form the partitive plural, we add the plural marker -j- and the partitive ending -a or -ä depending on vowel harmony. For nouns ending in -i like kyltti, the final -i changes to -e- before the -j-, giving us kylttejä.
Why does the English translation say "was reading" instead of just "read"?
Finnish does not have a separate continuous tense like English does. The verb luki is the standard past tense of lukea. The ongoing feeling of "was reading" is created here by combining the past tense verb with a partitive object.
Why does the word for big (iso) change to isoja?
Adjectives must match the noun they describe in both number and case. Because kylttejä is in the partitive plural, the adjective iso must also take the partitive plural form isoja.
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