Word
Planeettojen kuut ovat pieniä.
Meaning
The planets' moons are small.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Planeettojen kuut ovat pieniä.
How do we get the form planeettojen from the base word planeetta?
Planeettojen is the genitive plural, meaning "of the planets" or "planets'". The base word is planeetta. Before adding the plural marker -i-, the final -a changes to -o-, making the stem planeettoi-. When we add the genitive ending -en, the -i- turns into a -j- because it sits between two vowels, giving us planeettojen.
Wait, doesn't planeetta have a double tt that should change to a single t in the genitive case?
That happens in the genitive singular (planeetan), which uses the weak consonant grade. However, the genitive plural (planeettojen) is built on the plural stem, which keeps the strong consonant grade for this word type. Because of this, the double tt remains intact!
Why is kuut in the basic plural form, and not the partitive plural?
Kuut (moons) is the subject of the sentence. In Finnish, the subject is normally in the basic (nominative) case, whether it is singular or plural. The word planeettojen just attaches to it to tell us whose moons they are.
Why is the adjective pieniä in the partitive plural? Couldn't I say "Planeettojen kuut ovat pienet"?