Breakdown of Älä taita uuden kirjan sivua.
kirja
book
uusi
new
älä
don't (negative imperative)
sivu
the page
Questions & Answers about Älä taita uuden kirjan sivua.
How is the command word taita formed?
Taita comes from the verb taittaa (to fold). To form the negative imperative, you take the 'I' form of the verb (minä taitan) and drop the personal ending -n. Notice that the strong double -tt- in taittaa weakens to a single -t- in taitan, and this weak stem is what we use for the negative command taita.
Why is the object sivua in the partitive case?
In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence must always be in the partitive case. Because this is a negative command (älä taita, meaning 'do not fold'), the word for page (sivu) takes the partitive ending -a to become sivua.
Why are both uuden and kirjan in the genitive case ending in -n?
Why does uusi change to uuden instead of just adding an -n?