Breakdown of Näissä isoissa pylväissä on kaunis väri.
tämä
this
olla
to be
iso
big
kaunis
beautiful
väri
color
pylväs
the pillar
Questions & Answers about Näissä isoissa pylväissä on kaunis väri.
How do we get näissä (in these) from the basic word tämä (this)?
The word tämä has an irregular plural stem: näi-. When you add the inessive ending -ssä (in), it becomes näissä.
What is the -i- doing in the middle of isoissa and pylväissä?
That -i- is the plural marker. When adding endings to plural words (except for the basic nominative form), Finnish uses an -i- between the word stem and the case ending. So, iso (big) + i (plural) + ssa (in) = isoissa.
The dictionary word for pillar is pylväs. How does its stem change to make pylväissä?
Words ending in -as or -äs (like pylväs) change their ending to a double vowel in the stem, becoming pylvää-. When we add the plural -i-, one of those vowels drops out, making the plural stem pylväi-. Finally, we add the inessive ending -ssä to get pylväissä.
Why does the sentence use the singular verb on instead of the plural ovat, since there are multiple pillars?
This sentence uses a 'location + on + subject' structure, which is often how Finnish expresses that something 'has' a certain trait. Even though the location (näissä isoissa pylväissä) is plural, the thing that exists there (kaunis väri, a beautiful color) is singular. In this structure, the verb matches the thing that exists, so we use the singular on.
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