Breakdown of Hän laittaa kynttilät pöydälle ja kyselee paljon.
hän
he / she
ja
and
pöytä
table
paljon
a lot
laittaa
to put
kynttilä
candle
kysellä
to ask around, to keep asking
Questions & Answers about Hän laittaa kynttilät pöydälle ja kyselee paljon.
How does the verb kyselee relate to the basic verb kysyä (to ask)?
It comes from the verb kysellä, which is formed by adding the frequentative suffix -ella/-ellä to the root of kysyä. This suffix changes the meaning from a single action to a continuous, repeated, or scattered one (to ask around or to ask a lot of questions).
What type of verb is kysellä and how is it conjugated here?
Verbs ending in -ella/-ellä belong to verb type 3. To conjugate it for the hän pronoun, you drop the -llä, add an -e to find the stem, and then lengthen the final vowel: kysellä becomes kysele- which becomes kyselee.
Why is the object kynttilät (the candles) in the plural nominative form instead of the partitive?
It is a total object indicating a complete, specific set. He is putting all of those specific candles on the table. If he were putting an unspecified amount (some candles), it would be in the partitive plural: kynttilöitä.
Why does pöytä (table) have the allative ending -lle instead of the adessive -llä?
Finnish uses directional cases with the verb laittaa (to put) because the object is moving to a destination. Since the candles are moving onto the surface of the table, it takes the to-where ending -lle (onto the table) rather than the where ending -llä (already on the table). Note how the strong t in pöytä also changes to a weak d (pöydälle) because the ending closes the syllable.
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