Breakdown of Me syömme isoisän kasvattamia omenia.
me
we
omena
apple
syödä
to eat
isoisä
grandfather
kasvattaa
to grow (something)
Questions & Answers about Me syömme isoisän kasvattamia omenia.
How does isoisän kasvattamia translate to "grown by grandfather"?
This sentence uses the agent participle. To say something is done by someone, Finnish puts the doer in the genitive case (isoisän) followed by the verb in its -ma or -mä form. Think of it literally as "grandfather's grown apples."
What is the base verb for kasvattamia, and why not use the verb kasvaa?
The base verb is kasvattaa, which means "to grow [something]" or "to raise". It is a transitive verb, meaning it involves someone doing the action to an object (the grandfather grows apples). You can't use kasvaa here, because that is an intransitive verb meaning "to grow" on its own (for example, "the apple grows").
Why is the participle kasvattamia in the partitive plural form instead of just kasvattama?
The agent participle acts just like an adjective. Because it describes the apples (omenia), it has to match that noun in both case and number. Since omenia is in the partitive plural, the participle must also be in the partitive plural, becoming kasvattamia.
Why is the object (omenia) in the partitive case here instead of the standard plural (omenat)?
The verb syödä (to eat) takes a partitive object to show an ongoing or incomplete action. This is why the English translation is "we are eating". If you used the total object (omenat), it would mean the action is complete, as in "we will eat (all) the apples."
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