Breakdown of Todistaja piti laukusta kiinni kynsin hampain.
laukku
bag
kiinni
closed
hammas
tooth
pitää
to hold / take (a break)
todistaja
witness
kynsi
nail (fingernail, toenail)
Questions & Answers about Todistaja piti laukusta kiinni kynsin hampain.
How do kynsin and hampain use the instructive plural case taught in this lesson?
The instructive case is formed by adding the suffix -in to the plural stem of a noun. It expresses doing something "by means of" or "using" an instrument or body part. Here, kynsi (nail) becomes kynsin and hammas (tooth) becomes hampain. In modern Finnish, this case is mostly found in fixed idioms like this one.
Why is the bag in the elative case (laukusta)?
The elative case (-sta/-stä) is required by the phrasal verb pitää kiinni (to hold on to). Whenever you hold on to something in Finnish using this verb, the object you are holding must take the elative ending.
Does the Finnish idiom literally translate to "tooth and nail"?
Almost exactly! It translates literally to "with nails, with teeth." Finnish just reverses the order of the words compared to the English idiom, but the core meaning of holding on or fighting fiercely is exactly the same.
How does the word hammas change its stem to become hampain?
Words ending in -as like hammas (tooth) change their -s to -aa- in the stem, giving hampaa-. For the plural instructive, we add the plural -i- and the instructive -n. The double vowel -aa- drops one -a- before the plural -i-, resulting in hampain.
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