Breakdown of Ovatko nuo vanhat kivet noissa raunioissa?
olla
to be
tuo
that
vanha
old
kivi
the stone
raunio
the ruin
Questions & Answers about Ovatko nuo vanhat kivet noissa raunioissa?
Why does the word for "those" change from nuo to noissa in this sentence?
When a noun is in a plural case, its describing words (like "these" or "those") must match it. Because raunioissa is in the inessive plural ("in the ruins"), "those" must also be in the inessive plural. The basic word nuo drops its u before adding the plural -i- marker and the -ssa ending, becoming noissa.
How exactly is the word raunioissa built?
It comes from the basic word raunio (ruin). To say "in the ruins", you need the plural marker -i- followed by the inessive "in" ending -ssa. Because raunio ends in an -o, you don't need to drop any letters—just add the endings straight to the base: raunio + i + ssa = raunioissa.
Why is the verb ovatko used here instead of onko?
Onko is singular ("is?"), but here the subject is plural: nuo vanhat kivet (those old stones). Therefore, you need the plural form of the verb olla (to be), which is ovat (they are). When you add the question particle -ko to the end, you get ovatko ("are they?").
Why do vanhat and kivet end in -t instead of being in the inessive case like the ruins?
Only the phrase telling us where something is gets the inessive case (noissa raunioissa). Nuo vanhat kivet is the subject of the sentence—the things we are asking about. Therefore, they are just in the basic plural form (the nominative plural), which is marked with a simple -t.
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