Questions & Answers about Synnyin yhdentenätoista joulukuuta.
How do we get yhdentenätoista from the basic number eleven?
The basic word for eleven is yksitoista, and its ordinal form (eleventh) is yhdestoista. To say 'on the eleventh', we put it in the essive case by adding the -nä ending. The base of the word changes to yhdentenä- before adding the second half of the number.
Why does the -nä ending go in the middle of yhdentenätoista?
In Finnish 'teen' numbers, the -toista part literally means 'of the second' and it never changes form. Only the first part of the number changes. Here, the ordinal base yhdes- changes to the essive form yhdentenä-, and we just attach the frozen -toista to the end.
Why is the month joulukuu in the partitive case (joulukuuta)?
When saying dates in Finnish, the month is always in the partitive case. This makes sense if you think of it as 'the eleventh day of December'. You are pointing out one specific day out of the entire month.
I know the verb syntyä means 'to be born'. Why does it become synnyin here?
This is the past tense 'I' form. When we add the past tense marker -i- and the personal ending -n, the end of the word is closed. This triggers consonant gradation, where the strong -nt- in syntyä weakens to -nn-, giving us synnyin.
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