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Questions & Answers about Ovet on lukittu.
Why is the auxiliary verb on in the singular when ovet (the doors) is plural?
In the Finnish passive voice, there is no grammatical subject. Because of this, the auxiliary verb olla (to be) always stays in the third-person singular form on for the perfect tense, even if the object receiving the action (ovet) is plural.
How is the word lukittu formed?
It is the passive past participle of the type 6 verb lukita (to lock). For verb types 4, 5, and 6, you form this by taking the infinitive stem and adding the passive ending -ttu or -tty.
Why is ovet in the nominative case instead of the partitive?
Because the action of locking the doors is complete, it requires a total object. For plural words, the total object is identical to the nominative plural, which ends in a -t. If the action were somehow incomplete or ongoing, it would take the partitive plural ovia.
Can this sentence just mean "The doors are locked"?
Yes. The perfect passive is frequently used to describe a current state that resulted from a past action. You might also hear ovet ovat lukossa (literally "the doors are in lock") to describe the exact same state.