Breakdown of Mies ostaa kalliin auton katumatta päätöstä.
auto
car
mies
man
kallis
expensive
ostaa
to buy
päätös
decision
katua
to regret
Questions & Answers about Mies ostaa kalliin auton katumatta päätöstä.
How is the word katumatta formed from the basic verb?
The basic verb is katua (to regret). To say "without doing" something, we use the third infinitive abessive form. We take the strong verb stem, which is katu-, and add the ending -matta to get katumatta (without regretting).
Why does the ending for "without regretting" use -matta instead of -mättä?
This is a great reminder of vowel harmony. The stem katu- contains the back vowel u (and the infinitive has a). Because the word uses back vowels, any endings attached to it must also use back vowels, so we choose the -matta ending instead of the front-vowel -mättä.
Why are the words for "expensive car" (kalliin auton) written with an -n ending?
When a sentence describes a complete action with a single, whole object, that object takes the accusative case. For singular nouns, the accusative looks exactly like the genitive case (ending in -n). The man is completely buying one whole car, so both the adjective and the noun get the -n ending.
Why is päätöstä in the partitive case instead of ending in -n like the car?
The word päätös (decision) is the object of the action "regretting". In Finnish, verbs that express feelings or emotions, like katua, always force their object into the partitive case. The partitive form of päätös is päätöstä.
Learn Mies ostaa kalliin auton katumatta päätöstä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free