Breakdown of Tuo riita pilaisi sinun suhteesi.
tuo
that
sinun
your, yours
pilata
to ruin
riita
argument
suhde
relationship
Questions & Answers about Tuo riita pilaisi sinun suhteesi.
The current lesson is about consonant gradation in the conditional mood. Why doesn't the verb pilaisi have any consonant changes?
The verb pilata (to ruin) is a Type 4 verb. While conditional verbs are always built on the strong stem (which often means changing a consonant, like tavata becoming strong tapaisi), the core stem of pilata is pilaa-. Since there is no p, t, or k inside this stem, it doesn't undergo consonant gradation. You just replace the final vowel with the conditional marker -isi.
I see a consonant change in the word suhteesi. How did suhde (relationship) become suhte-?
Words ending in -e belong to a special noun group. When you form their stem to add endings, the final -e doubles, and any consonants undergo reverse consonant gradation (weak to strong). So the weak hd in the basic word suhde becomes the strong ht in the stem suhtee-.
If suhteesi is the object of the verb pilaisi, shouldn't it be in the genitive case ending in -n?
Yes, normally a total object like this would be in the genitive case (suhteen). However, there is a special rule: when you add a possessive suffix like -si (your) to a word in the genitive case, the -n is dropped! So suhteen + -si simply becomes suhteesi.
Do we really need the word sinun here if we already have the -si ending on suhteesi?
No, you could just say Tuo riita pilaisi suhteesi. In standard Finnish, you can often leave out minun (my) and sinun (your) because the possessive endings (-ni and -si) already make it clear who the owner is. Keeping sinun just adds a bit of emphasis.
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