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Laitamme roskat niihin.

Laitamme roskat niihin.
We put the trash into them.
From Lesson 141:Plural demonstratives in local cases (näissä, niissä)·Finnish

Questions & Answers about Laitamme roskat niihin.

Why does 'into them' translate to niihin?
Niihin is the illative ('into') plural form of the pronoun ne (they/those). To make it, we take the plural demonstrative stem nii- and add the illative ending -hin.
English uses the singular word 'trash'. Why is roskat plural in Finnish?
In Finnish, household garbage or trash is generally referred to in the plural as roskat. The singular word roska usually means just a single, specific piece of rubbish or a speck of dirt.
Why is the object roskat ending in -t instead of being in the partitive case (roskia)?
Because this is a complete action covering the whole object. We are putting all of the specific trash away, not just an undefined amount. Plural total objects take the regular plural ending -t. If we meant 'some of the trash', we would use the partitive plural roskia.
Could we use a static location case with laittaa, like niissä ('in them')?
No, because the verb laittaa (to put) expresses movement toward a destination. In Finnish, verbs of moving or placing require an 'into' case (like the illative niihin) or an 'onto' case (allative), never a static 'in' case.

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