Question 1

Why does this sentence use näy instead of näytä from the lesson's verb näyttää?

Accepted Answer

näy comes from a different but related verb: näkyä, which means "to be visible" or "to be seen". The lesson's verb näyttää means "to look like" or "to seem". They are very easy to mix up! If you wanted to say "The star doesn't look like...", you would use ei näytä.

Question 2

How do we get näy from the dictionary form näkyä?

Accepted Answer

näkyä is a verb type 1. To make the negative form, you find the "minä" stem and apply consonant gradation. Here, the consonant k completely disappears (just like lukea becomes luen). Because the stem is näy-, the negative form is ei näy.

Question 3

Why isn't tähti in the partitive case (tähteä) since this is a negative sentence?

Accepted Answer

You might remember that negative sentences usually force the object (the thing being acted upon) into the partitive case. However, tähti is the subject of this sentence (the thing doing the action of being visible). Subjects generally stay in their basic nominative form, even when the sentence is negative.

Question 4

Can I use the -lta/-ltä endings from this lesson with näkyä?

Accepted Answer

Usually no. The verbs in this lesson like näyttää (to look like) and kuulostaa (to sound like) use -lta/-ltä to describe what impression something gives. Because näkyä simply means "to be visible," it doesn't take those endings. Instead, you'll often see it with location endings, like Tähti näkyy taivaalla (The star is visible in the sky).

Tähti ei näy tänään.

Breakdown of Tähti ei näy tänään.

Questions & Answers about Tähti ei näy tänään.

Learn Tähti ei näy tänään and more in Finnish