Breakdown of Lapset eivät huuda tiikereille.
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
lapsi
child
huutaa
to shout
tiikeri
tiger
Questions & Answers about Lapset eivät huuda tiikereille.
How do we get tiikereille from the basic word tiikeri?
To make the allative plural, we take the plural stem of tiikeri, which requires adding the plural marker -i. Because tiikeri ends in -i, the plural stem becomes tiikerei-. Finally, we add the allative ending -lle, giving us tiikereille ("to/at the tigers").
The English translation says "at the tigers". Why does the Finnish sentence use the allative case (-lle), which usually means "to" or "onto"?
In Finnish, when you direct your voice at someone, you shout to them. The verb huutaa (to shout) takes the allative case (-lle) for the person or animal receiving the shouting, similar to how you would give or say something to someone.
Why is the main verb huuda instead of the plural form huutavat?
Because this is a negative sentence. In Finnish, to say "they do not", you use the plural negative verb eivät followed by the connegative form of the main verb, which doesn't change for plural. The positive "they shout" is huutavat, but the negative is eivät huuda.
Why does the main verb change from a 't' in its dictionary form (huutaa) to a 'd' in huuda?