Breakdown of Opiskelijat heittävät omenoita apinoille.
opiskelija
student
omena
apple
heittää
to throw
apina
monkey
Questions & Answers about Opiskelijat heittävät omenoita apinoille.
What is the ending -lle doing on apinoille?
The -lle ending is the allative case, which often translates to "to" or "onto" in English. When you throw, give, or say something to someone (or an animal), the receiver of that action takes this -lle ending.
How do we get the plural form apinoille from the dictionary word apina?
To make the plural stem, the final -a in apina changes to an -o before adding the plural marker -i-. This creates the plural stem apinoi-, to which we attach the allative -lle ending.
Why is omenoita in the partitive plural case?
The students are throwing an undefined amount of apples (just "some apples"), rather than all the apples in a specific known group. When the object of an action is a plural, undefined quantity, it must be in the partitive plural.
How is omenoita formed, and does it share a rule with apinoille?
Yes! Just like apina, the word omena ends in -a. The -a turns into an -o when we add the plural -i, creating the stem omenoi-. To make it partitive, we add the ending -ta, resulting in omenoita.
Why does the verb heittävät end with -vät instead of -vat?
This is because of vowel harmony. The dictionary form of the verb is heittää. Since it contains the front vowel ä (the vowels e and i are considered neutral), the ending must also use front vowels. Therefore, the "they" ending becomes -vät.
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