Learn Finnish: Laitamme vanhat kirjat noihin kasoihin. - We put the old books into those piles.

Laitamme vanhat kirjat noihin kasoihin.

We put the old books into those piles.

Breakdown of Laitamme vanhat kirjat noihin kasoihin.

Questions & Answers about Laitamme vanhat kirjat noihin kasoihin.

Why is "into those" translated as noihin?

Noihin is the illative ("into") plural form of the demonstrative pronoun nuo (those). Pronouns must match the case and number of the noun they point to. Since the books are going into the piles (kasoihin), nuo changes to its illative plural form, noihin.

Why do we use the illative case (noihin kasoihin) here instead of the inessive (noissa kasoissa)?

The verb laittaa (to put) requires the destination to be in a directional "into" or "onto" case (like the illative), because you are actively moving an object to a new location. While in English you might say "put in those piles," Finnish strictly focuses on the motion into the destination.

Why are vanhat kirjat (the old books) in their basic plural form ending in -t? Aren't they the object of the sentence?

Yes, they are the direct object! In Finnish, when a complete object is plural, it looks exactly like the basic nominative plural form (ending in -t). Because of this rule, kirja becomes kirjat (books), and the adjective matches it, becoming vanhat (old).

How is the word kasoihin formed from kasa (pile)?