Questions & Answers about Tyttö oppi uusia sanoja noidilta.
How do we get the form noidilta from the basic word for witch?
The basic word is noita. To say from the witches in the ablative plural, we need three changes. First, consonant gradation changes the strong t to a weak d. Second, because the word's first vowel is o, the final a drops before the plural i, creating the stem noidi-. Finally, we add the ablative ending -lta to mean from.
Why are uusia sanoja in the partitive plural case here?
They are in the partitive plural because the girl learned an open-ended amount of words. She didn't learn all the new words in a specific list, just some new words in general. The adjective uusi (new) becomes uusia, and sana (word) becomes sanoja.
Why does the word sana change its a to o in the plural (sanoja), but noita drops its a (noidilta)?
This is a great refresher on plural stem rules! For words ending in -a, the plural change depends on the first vowel of the word. In sana, the first vowel is a, so the final a changes to o before the plural i (stem: sanoi-). In noita, the first vowel is o, so the final a just drops before the plural i (stem: noiti-).
Why does the verb oppi (learned) keep the strong double pp?
Consonant gradation weakens consonants when a syllable gets closed by a consonant ending. For example, I learn is opin because the -n closes the syllable. However, the past tense he or she learned is oppi. Because it ends in a vowel, the syllable stays open, so the strong pp from the basic form oppia remains.
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