Questions & Answers about Meidät lukittiin kellariin.
How is the passive past formed for the verb lukita in this sentence?
The verb lukita (to lock) is a type 4 verb. To form the past passive for this type, you take the infinitive stem (lukit-) and add the past passive ending -tiin, giving us lukittiin.
Why is the word for 'we' in the form meidät instead of me?
Meidät is the accusative (object) form of me (we). In Finnish passive sentences, the object normally looks exactly like the dictionary form. However, personal pronouns are a major exception! When a personal pronoun is the object of a passive verb, it must take its special -t ending, like meidät, teidät, or hänet.
The English translation says 'in the cellar', so why does the Finnish use kellariin (into the cellar)?
In Finnish, verbs about leaving, forgetting, or trapping something somewhere require the 'into' form (the illative case). Because the locking action puts us into the cellar, Finnish uses kellariin instead of the 'in' form kellarissa.
Could me lukittiin also be a correct sentence?
Yes, but it would mean something completely different! In spoken Finnish, the passive form is used to mean 'we do' or 'we did'. So, me lukittiin means 'we locked'. Using meidät (us) is what makes it clear that we are the ones receiving the action: 'we were locked'.
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