Questions & Answers about Otan kirjoja noista koreista.
How do we get noista (from those) from the basic word tuo (that)?
First, the plural of tuo (that) is nuo (those). When adding local case endings to plural demonstratives, the stem changes to include an -i- for the plural. For nuo, the stem becomes noi-. Then we add the elative ending -sta (out of), making it noista.
Why do both noista and koreista have the -sta ending?
In Finnish, demonstrative pronouns like 'this' or 'those' must match the noun they describe in both number and case. Since the baskets are in the plural elative case (koreista), the word for 'those' must also be in the plural elative (noista).
Why is 'books' in the partitive plural (kirjoja) rather than the nominative plural (kirjat)?
We use the partitive plural because it expresses an undefined quantity, meaning you are taking 'some books', not all of them. If you said Otan kirjat, it would mean you are taking all the specific books that are in those baskets.
What happens to the word kori (basket) to make it koreista?