Questions & Answers about Jos haluatte, voitte seurata minua.
Wait, this lesson is about the imperative (commands), but there is no -kaa or -kää here. Why?
That is a great observation! This sentence uses the standard present tense (haluatte, voitte) because it is a polite statement or offer ("you can follow me"), not a direct command. If you wanted to actually command a group to follow you, you would use the imperative form from this lesson: Seuratkaa minua! (Follow me!).
The word for "you" plural is te, but it's missing from this sentence. Can we just drop it?
Yes! Just like with "I" and "we", you can usually drop the pronoun for "you" in Finnish. The -tte endings on haluatte and voitte already make it perfectly clear that the subject is "you" (plural or formal).
Why is the verb seurata left in its basic dictionary form?
Because it follows the helper verb voitte (you can / you are able to). In Finnish, just like in English, when you use a helper verb like voida, the main action verb that comes after it stays in its basic, unchanged dictionary form (the infinitive).
Why is "me" translated as minua (partitive) instead of minut?
The verb seurata (to follow) is a partitive verb. In Finnish, following someone is thought of as an ongoing, continuous process rather than a completed action, so the person being followed must always be in the partitive case.