Learn Finnish: Vanhuus tuo usein viisautta. - Old age often brings wisdom.

The suffix -uus creates abstract nouns from adjectives. For adjectives ending in -a or -ä, like vanha, the final vowel is dropped before adding the suffix, giving us vanhuus (old age).

What is the base adjective for viisautta?

The base adjective is viisas (wise). Its abstract noun form is viisaus (wisdom). While many adjectives add -uus or -yys, adjectives ending in -as usually form their abstract nouns with just -us or -ys added to the word's base.

Why is viisautta in the partitive case here rather than the accusative?

In this sentence, wisdom is the object of the verb tuo (brings). Because abstract qualities like wisdom are uncountable, they act like mass nouns and take the partitive case as an object, implying an unspecified amount of wisdom.

How do we get from the nominative viisaus to the partitive viisautta?

Nouns ending in the abstract suffix -us or -ys follow a specific pattern. To form their partitive, you replace the final -s with -tta or -ttä. Thus, viisaus becomes viisautta.