Questions & Answers about Me syömme päivällistä.
Why is "dinner" in the partitive case (päivällistä) instead of the basic dictionary form?
In Finnish, you use the partitive case for the object of an affirmative sentence when the action is ongoing and not yet finished. Because eating dinner is an active, ongoing process rather than a completed event, the meal takes the partitive ending.
What is the dictionary form of päivällistä, and why does the ending look so different here?
The dictionary form is päivällinen. A very important rule in Finnish is that words ending in -nen change that ending to -s- before taking on most grammatical endings. So the stem becomes päivällis-, and then we add the partitive ending -tä, giving us päivällistä.
The English translation says "are eating". Where is the word for "are" in the Finnish sentence?
Finnish does not have a separate continuous tense like English does. The single verb syömme means both "we eat" and "we are eating". In this sentence, the fact that the object is in the partitive case (päivällistä) helps imply that the action is happening right now.
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