Questions & Answers about Me saimme kirjeen prinsessoilta.
Why is it prinsessoilta and not "prinsessailta"?
To make the plural, we add the plural marker -i- before the case ending. For many words ending in -a that have three or more syllables, like prinsessa, the final -a changes to an -o- when the plural -i- is added. Then we add the ablative ending -lta, making it prinsessoilta.
Why do we use the ablative ending -lta to mean "from" here, instead of the elative ending -sta?
In Finnish, when you receive something from a person, you use the ablative case (-lta/-ltä). The elative case (-sta/-stä) is mostly used when something comes out from inside a place or thing.
Why is the word for letter kirjeen with an -n ending instead of the partitive kirjettä?
Receiving a letter is a completed action where you get the whole thing, so the object takes the "total object" ending -n (the genitive-accusative case). If the action was ongoing or incomplete, or if the sentence was negative, you would use the partitive.
How does the verb saada (to get) become saimme?
Saada is a type 2 verb. To form the past tense, the long vowel aa in the stem shortens and combines with the past tense marker -i-, creating the past stem sai-. Then we add the "we" personal ending -mme.
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