Breakdown of Tiedätkö, miten tämä laatikko avautuu?
tämä
this
laatikko
box
tietää
to know
miten
how (in what way)
avautua
to open (intransitive)
Questions & Answers about Tiedätkö, miten tämä laatikko avautuu?
Why do we use avautuu instead of avaa here?
Avautua is an automative verb derived from the basic verb avata (to open). You use avata when someone actively opens an object, but you use avautua when the thing opens on its own or the focus is on the mechanism itself. Since the box is doing the action to itself grammatically, we need avautuu.
How exactly does the suffix -tua attach to avata to make avautua?
The suffix -tua is typically added to the strong vowel stem of a verb. For the verb avata, the stem is avaa-. When creating this derivative, the final a of the stem changes to u before the suffix, resulting in avautua.
Why is tämä laatikko in the basic nominative form instead of an object case?
Because avautua is an intransitive verb, meaning it cannot take a direct object. Even though a person might eventually open the box, in this specific clause the box is the subject performing the action of opening itself. Subjects of automative verbs stay in the nominative case.
Why does tiedätkö have the -kö suffix when there is already the question word miten in the sentence?
The main question you are asking is a yes/no question: Do you know? That is why tietää takes the question particle -kö and sits at the very beginning of the sentence. The word miten (how) simply starts the indirect question (miten tämä laatikko avautuu) which acts as the thing you are asking about.
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