Breakdown of Naiset haluavat halata toisiaan, koska vuosikymmen on pitkä aika.
olla
to be
nainen
woman
koska
because
aika
time (concept, duration)
haluta
to want
pitkä
long, tall
toisiaan
each other (also toisiamme, toisianne)
vuosikymmen
decade
halata
to hug
Questions & Answers about Naiset haluavat halata toisiaan, koska vuosikymmen on pitkä aika.
Why is 'each other' written as toisiaan here instead of just toisia?
In Finnish, to say 'each other', you use forms of the word toinen. To show who is doing the action to each other, you must add a possessive suffix. Here, toisia is the plural partitive form, and -an is the 'their' suffix (matching 'the women'). Together they make toisiaan.
Why is toisiaan in the partitive case instead of the accusative?
The verb halata (to hug) requires its object to be in the partitive case. In Finnish, verbs that express emotion or continuous physical contact often take a partitive object. Because of this rule, we use the partitive toisiaan instead of the accusative toisensa.
I know haluavat means 'they want'. Why doesn't halata change its ending too?
Just like in English, when you string two verbs together like 'want to hug', only the first verb is conjugated to match the subject. Haluavat (they want) changes to match naiset (the women), while halata (to hug) stays in its basic dictionary form (the first infinitive).
What are the pieces that make up the word vuosikymmen?
It is a compound word made from vuosi (year) and kymmen (ten). Literally meaning 'year-ten', it translates to 'a decade' in English.
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