Questions & Answers about Olen ollut kasvissyöjä kaksi vuotta.
Why is it olen ollut and not just olen?
Olen ollut is the perfect tense, meaning "I have been". You form it with the verb olla (to be) conjugated to match the subject (olen) plus the past participle of the main verb (ollut). Because the action started in the past and continues now, Finnish uses the perfect tense here, just like English.
Why is kasvissyöjä in the basic nominative form instead of the essive case (kasvissyöjänä)?
When you state your identity or a long-term lifestyle choice using the verb olla, you typically use the basic nominative form. The essive case (kasvissyöjänä) would imply that being a vegetarian is just a temporary role or a passing phase.
What are the parts of the compound word kasvissyöjä?
It is made of kasvis (vegetable) and syöjä (eater). The word syöjä comes from the verb syödä (to eat). So, a vegetarian in Finnish is literally a "vegetable eater"!
How could I use the -ton suffix from this lesson to describe a vegetarian diet?
You can use the word lihaton, which means "meatless". It is formed by taking the noun liha (meat) and adding the suffix -ton (without). You could use this to say you eat lihaton ruoka (meatless food).
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