Questions & Answers about Aarre oli haudattu syvään hautaan.
How is the pluperfect passive formed in the phrase oli haudattu?
It is formed using the 3rd person singular past tense of the verb to be, which is oli, followed by the past passive participle of the main verb, haudattu. Notice that the auxiliary verb is the active oli, not the passive oltiin.
Why is the word aarre in the basic nominative form if it is the object of the sentence?
In Finnish passive sentences, a total object (an object that the action fully affects) is put into the nominative case. Since the treasure was completely buried, aarre drops the usual object endings and stays in its basic form.
Why does the sentence use the illative (into) case for syvään hautaan when the English translation says 'in a deep grave'?
Finnish verbs of placing or leaving often require the illative case because the action involves movement into a location. The verb haudata (to bury) works this way, so both the adjective syvä and the noun hauta take the illative endings.
What is the basic form of the verb for haudattu and why does the consonant change?
The infinitive is haudata (to bury), which is a type 4 verb. Type 4 verbs undergo reverse consonant gradation. Here, the weak d changes to a strong t, which then doubles to tt as part of the passive ending.