Breakdown of Moottoripyörän akku on pienempi kuin auton akku.
olla
to be
auto
car
pieni
small
moottoripyörä
motorcycle
kuin
than / like / as (also in "before …")
akku
battery
Questions & Answers about Moottoripyörän akku on pienempi kuin auton akku.
How does kuin work in this sentence?
Kuin means "than". It directly links the comparative adjective (pienempi) with the thing being compared against (auton akku). Just like in English, the word order is the adjective, followed by kuin, followed by the thing being compared.
Why is the word for 'smaller' pienempi instead of 'pienimpi'?
The basic adjective is pieni (small). To make it a comparative ("smaller"), we add the ending -mpi. However, for most adjectives ending in -i, that i changes to an e before the ending is attached. Therefore, pieni + -mpi becomes pienempi.
Why do moottoripyörä and auto end in -n here?
The -n ending is the genitive case, which shows possession. Moottoripyörän translates to "the motorcycle's" and auton translates to "the car's". In Finnish, the owning word always comes right before the thing it owns (akku).
Could I leave out the second akku and just say pienempi kuin auton?
Yes, absolutely! Just like in English you can say "smaller than the car's" without repeating the word "battery", in everyday Finnish you will often hear pienempi kuin auton. Repeating akku at the end just makes the sentence completely explicit.
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