Questions & Answers about Tiedätkö näiden kuiden nimet?
How do we form the genitive plural kuiden from the word kuu?
First, we need the plural stem. For words ending in a double vowel like kuu, we drop the second vowel and add the plural marker -i-, giving us the stem kui-. Then we add the genitive plural ending. Because the stem kui- ends in a diphthong (two different vowels together), it takes the -den ending, making it kuiden.
Why is the word for "these" (näiden) also in the genitive plural case?
In Finnish, demonstrative words like "this" or "these" must match the case of the noun they describe. Because the word for moons is in the genitive plural (kuiden), the word for "these" must also be in the genitive plural. The base word is tämä (this), its plural stem is näi-, and adding the -den ending gives us näiden.
Why does the sentence say näiden kuiden nimet instead of nimet näiden kuiden?
In Finnish, the "owner" word in the genitive case almost always comes right before the thing that is owned. So the English phrase "the names of these moons" literally translates to "these moons' names" (näiden kuiden nimet).
Why is the object nimet (names) in the basic plural form and not the partitive?
When you ask if someone knows a specific, complete set of things, it acts as a total object. For plural total objects, Finnish uses the nominative plural form, which is nimet. If you were asking if they knew some names in general, you would use the partitive plural (nimiä).
Could I use the verb tunnetko instead of tiedätkö here?
No, because tietää is used for knowing facts or specific pieces of information, such as names. The verb tuntea is used when you know a person, a physical place, or are personally familiar with something.
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