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Questions & Answers about Odotamme isossa aulassa.
How would you change this sentence to command a group of people: "Wait in the large lobby!"?
You would use the plural imperative ending -kaa taught in this lesson: odottakaa. The sentence becomes Odottakaa isossa aulassa! Notice how the strong double consonant tt returns in the imperative form, compared to the weak single t in odotamme.
Why does odotamme only have one t when the dictionary form is odottaa?
This is a result of consonant gradation. When we add a closed ending like -mme to the verb stem, the strong double consonant tt softens to a weak single t.
Why does the word for "large" have the ending -ssa (isossa)?
In Finnish, adjectives have to match the grammatical case of the noun they describe. Since aulassa is in the inessive case (meaning "in the lobby"), the adjective iso also takes the inessive ending to become isossa.
Where is the word for "we" (me) in this sentence?
It is left out because it is optional. In Finnish, the verb ending -mme already clearly shows that "we" are doing the action, so the pronoun me is frequently dropped in everyday language.