Questions & Answers about Komennan lasta hymyillen.
How is the word hymyillen formed?
hymyillen is the second infinitive instructive of the verb hymyillä (to smile). It is formed by taking the infinitive stem hymyill-, adding the second infinitive marker -e-, and then the instructive ending -n. It describes the manner in which the main action is done, translating here to 'smiling' or 'by smiling'.
Who is doing the smiling in this sentence?
You are! The second infinitive instructive always shares its subject with the main verb. Because the main verb is komennan (I command), it means 'I' am the one smiling while giving the command. If the child were smiling, you would need to use a completely different grammatical structure.
Why is the object lasta in the partitive case?
Why does the main verb change from komentaa to komennan?
komentaa is a type 1 verb. Adding the personal 'I' ending -n closes the final syllable, which triggers consonant gradation. The strong consonant combination -nt- weakens to -nn-, resulting in komennan.
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