Breakdown of Älkää ruokkiko lintuja tai muita eläimiä.
tai
or
lintu
bird
muu
other, else
eläin
animal
älkää
do not (plural/formal)
ruokkia
to feed
Questions & Answers about Älkää ruokkiko lintuja tai muita eläimiä.
Why is it älkää ruokkiko instead of just älä ruoki?
Älkää is the plural or formal version of the negative imperative ("do not"). When you use älkää, the main verb needs the ending -ko or -kö. If you were giving this command to just one person informally, you would use the singular form älä ruoki.
Why does ruokkiko keep the double kk?
The plural imperative forms use the "strong" stem of the verb. For a type 1 verb like ruokkia (to feed), you simply drop the final -a from the infinitive and add the negative ending -ko. Unlike the basic "I" form (minä ruokin), the double kk does not weaken here.
Why are the words for birds (lintuja) and animals (eläimiä) 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, the objects are in the partitive plural.
What is the base form of muita and why is it used here?
The base form is muu, which means "other". In Finnish, descriptive words must match the case and number of the noun they describe. Because it describes eläimiä (partitive plural), it takes the partitive plural form muita.
How does the word eläin (animal) turn into eläimiä?
Words ending in -in, like eläin, change their ending to -ime- before adding suffixes. To make the partitive plural, we add the plural marker -i- and the partitive ending -ä. The -e- drops out when the plural -i- is added, resulting in eläimiä.
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