Breakdown of He korjaavat pahoja risteyksiä.
he
they
korjata
to fix
paha
bad (evil, severe)
risteys
intersection
Questions & Answers about He korjaavat pahoja risteyksiä.
Why are the words for "bad intersections" in the partitive plural here?
In Finnish, the object of a sentence takes the partitive case when the action is ongoing, continuous, or incomplete. Because they "are fixing" the intersections right now, the process isn't finished yet, so we use the partitive plural object pahoja risteyksiä. If they were completely finishing a specific set of intersections, the object would be in the nominative plural: He korjaavat pahat risteykset (They will fix the bad intersections).
How does the word paha (bad) become pahoja in the partitive plural?
The partitive plural is made by adding the plural marker -i- (which becomes -j- between vowels) and the partitive ending -a or -ä. For two-syllable words ending in -a like paha, that final -a changes to an -o- before the plural marker to make it easier to pronounce. So, paha becomes paho- + j + a = pahoja.
What is the base form of risteyksiä, and why does its spelling change so much?
Why does pahoja have to be in the partitive plural just like risteyksiä?
In Finnish, adjectives must always agree with the noun they describe. This means they have to match in both number (singular or plural) and case (like nominative, partitive, etc.). Since the noun risteyksiä is in the partitive plural, its adjective must also be in the partitive plural form (pahoja).
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