Breakdown of Minun pituuteni on ongelma, jos minä seison teidän edessänne.
olla
to be
minä
I
te
you (plural/formal)
seisoa
to stand
ongelma
problem
edessä
in front of
minun
my, mine
jos
if
pituus
the height / the length
teidän
your, yours (plural/formal)
Questions & Answers about Minun pituuteni on ongelma, jos minä seison teidän edessänne.
How is teidän edessänne formed?
It means in front of you (plural or formal). The postposition edessä (in front of) is linked to the genitive pronoun teidän (your). Because of this, the postposition must take the matching possessive suffix -nne. The structure is: genitive pronoun + postposition + possessive suffix.
Can I drop the word teidän in this sentence?
Yes, you can! Just like with nouns, first and second person pronouns (minun, sinun, meidän, teidän) can be dropped when the following word has a possessive suffix. Saying jos minä seison edessänne is perfectly correct and very common.
Why does the postposition edessä take a possessive suffix just like the noun pituus does?
In Finnish, postpositions often act a lot like nouns grammatically. Just as you say minun pituuteni (my height) with a suffix on the noun, you say teidän edessänne (literally your front / in front of you) with a suffix on the postposition. The grammatical rule for adding the suffix is exactly the same!
What is the base form of the word pituuteni?
The base noun is pituus, which means length or height. Words ending in -uus or -yys follow a specific pattern. To add the possessive suffix -ni (my), the word must first change into its vowel stem pituute-, making it pituuteni.
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