Breakdown of Vanhat luokkakaverit ovat odottaneet toisiaan koko vuosikymmenen.
olla
to be
vanha
old
odottaa
to wait
koko
whole
toisiaan
each other (also toisiamme, toisianne)
luokkakaveri
classmate
vuosikymmen
decade
Questions & Answers about Vanhat luokkakaverit ovat odottaneet toisiaan koko vuosikymmenen.
How is the word toisiaan (each other) formed here?
It comes from the pronoun toinen. To say "each other," we put it in the plural, add the case ending required by the verb, and attach a possessive suffix. Here, the verb odottaa (to wait for) requires the partitive case. The plural partitive of toinen is toisia, and adding the third-person possessive suffix -an gives us toisiaan.
Why does odottaneet end in -neet instead of -nut?
The verb is in the perfect tense (ovat odottaneet = have waited). Because the subject, vanhat luokkakaverit (old classmates), is plural, the past participle must also be in the plural form, which ends in -neet. If it were just one classmate, it would be on odottanut.
Why is vuosikymmen (decade) in the form vuosikymmenen?
When expressing how long an action lasts, Finnish uses the genitive-looking accusative case (ending in -n) to show the entire duration of time. So "for a whole decade" becomes koko vuosikymmenen.
Since vuosikymmenen gets an ending, why doesn't the word koko (whole) get one too?
The word koko is a special adjective in Finnish because it is indeclinable. This means it never changes its form to match the noun it describes, no matter what case that noun is in.
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