Questions & Answers about Paras reitti on lyhyt.
This lesson is about the superlative ending -in, but paras doesn't end in -in. Why?
Paras (best) is highly irregular. It is the superlative form of hyvä (good). Just like English uses 'best' instead of 'goodest', Finnish uses paras. It is the most common exception you will need to memorize!
If I wanted to say 'the shortest route', how do I add the -in ending to lyhyt?
The superlative of lyhyt is lyhyin (shortest). To form it, the final -t drops away, and you add the regular -in suffix. You could easily flip this sentence to say: Lyhyin reitti on paras (The shortest route is the best).
Does the irregular word paras still need to match the case of the noun it describes?
Yes, it works just like a normal adjective! If the route is in a different case, paras must match it. The stem for paras is parhaa-. For example, 'on the best route' would be parhaalla reitillä.
Why are both reitti and lyhyt in their basic dictionary form here?
This is a classic 'A is B' sentence. The subject is paras reitti and the adjective describing it is lyhyt, linked by the verb on (is). Because the subject is a distinct, countable thing, the describing adjective stays in the basic nominative case rather than taking the partitive case.
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