Breakdown of Turnaus alkaa yhdeksäntenätoista.
alkaa
to start
yhdeksästoista
nineteenth
turnaus
tournament
Questions & Answers about Turnaus alkaa yhdeksäntenätoista.
Why is the essive case used here for the number?
In Finnish, the essive case (usually ending in -na or -nä) is used to express days and dates when an event happens. To say "on the nineteenth", you put the ordinal number for 19th into the essive case.
How do we get yhdeksäntenätoista from the base number 19?
The base number for 19 is yhdeksäntoista, and its ordinal form (19th) is yhdeksästoista. To make it essive, the -s at the end of yhdeksäs changes to the stem -nte-, and then we add the essive ending -nä. This gives us yhdeksäntenä, while the toista part just tags along at the end.
Why doesn't the -toista part change or get an essive ending too?
For numbers 11 through 19, only the first part of the number declines (changes its endings). The -toista part literally means "of the second (ten)" and always stays exactly the same, no matter what case the first part of the number is in.
Why does the essive ending here use -nä instead of -na?
This happens because of vowel harmony. The word yhdeksäs contains the front vowels y, e, and ä, which means any case endings attached to it must also use front vowels like ä. The ending attaches directly to the stem of yhdeksäs before -toista is added, so it follows the vowels in the first part of the word.
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