Breakdown of Kaupunki perustettiin kahdentenatoista helmikuuta.
kaupunki
city
helmikuu
February
perustaa
to found
kahdestoista
twelfth
Questions & Answers about Kaupunki perustettiin kahdentenatoista helmikuuta.
Why is "on the twelfth" written as kahdentenatoista?
To say "on" a specific date, Finnish uses the essive case (the -na or -nä ending) attached to an ordinal number. The basic ordinal for "twelfth" is kahdestoista. When we put it in the essive case to mean "on the twelfth", it becomes kahdentenatoista.
How does the spelling work when putting a "teen" number like kahdestoista into the essive case?
For numbers 11 through 19, only the first part of the number changes, while the -toista part always stays exactly the same. So kahdes- (second) becomes kahdentena in the essive case, and we just glue -toista to the end to get kahdentenatoista.
Why is the month helmikuu in the partitive case (helmikuuta)?
In Finnish date expressions, the month is always in the partitive case. You can think of it as meaning "of February" or "a part of February".
What form of the verb is perustettiin?
It is the past passive form of the verb perustaa (to found or to establish). The passive past marker is -ttiin (or -tiin), which translates perfectly here as "was founded" because the sentence doesn't specify exactly who founded the city.
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