Breakdown of Maistuuko kala suolaiselta vai happamalta?
vai
or (in questions)
kala
fish
maistua
to taste (have a flavor)
suolainen
salty
hapan
sour
Questions & Answers about Maistuuko kala suolaiselta vai happamalta?
Why do the words for salty and sour end in -lta here?
This is because of the verb maistua (to taste). In Finnish, perception verbs (verbs related to the senses, like tasting, looking, or sounding) require the descriptive word to be in the ablative case (-lta/-ltä). This rule of a verb requiring a specific case is called verb rection.
Why is the word for sour happamalta? The dictionary says sour is hapan.
Words ending in -an or -än undergo a stem change before you can add most case endings. The end of the word changes to -ma- and often triggers consonant gradation (the p doubles to pp). For hapan, the stem becomes happama-. When you add the -lta ending, you get happamalta.
Just to review, why does suolainen (salty) become suolaise-?
This is a standard rule for words ending in -nen. Whenever you add a case ending to a -nen word, the -nen changes to -se-. So, the stem of suolainen becomes suolaise- before adding the -lta ending.
I learned that tai means 'or'. Why does this sentence use vai instead?
Both tai and vai mean 'or', but they are used differently. The word vai is used specifically in questions when you are asking someone to choose between mutually exclusive options (is it A, or is it B?). Because this is a direct question asking to pick one flavor over the other, vai is required.
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