Breakdown of Poliisi etsii noita ajoneuvoja.
nuo
those (over there)
etsiä
to look for
poliisi
the police / police officer
ajoneuvo
vehicle
Questions & Answers about Poliisi etsii noita ajoneuvoja.
Why are noita ajoneuvoja in the partitive case?
The verb etsiä (to look for) is a partitive verb. It always requires its object to be in the partitive case because searching is an ongoing or incomplete action. Since the police are looking for multiple vehicles, the object is in the partitive plural.
Where does the word noita come from?
Noita is the partitive plural form of the demonstrative pronoun tuo (that). In Finnish, words like "this" and "that" must match the noun they describe in both number and case. Since the vehicles are in the partitive plural, tuo changes to noita (those).
Why is the verb etsii singular when the English translation says "The police are"?
In Finnish, poliisi is grammatically singular when referring to the police force in general. Therefore, it takes the "hän" (he/she) form of the verb: etsii. English treats "police" as a plural noun, which is why the translation uses "are". If you meant multiple individual officers, you would say poliisit etsivät.
How does ajoneuvo become ajoneuvoja in the partitive plural?
The basic word is ajoneuvo (vehicle), ending in the vowel -o. To make it partitive plural, Finnish adds the plural marker -i- and the partitive ending -a. Because an -i- between two vowels often changes to a -j- for easier pronunciation, ajoneuvo + i + a becomes ajoneuvoja.
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