Breakdown of Presidentti lähti palatsista valtuuskuntineen.
lähteä
to leave
palatsi
the palace
presidentti
president
valtuuskunta
delegation
Questions & Answers about Presidentti lähti palatsista valtuuskuntineen.
How exactly is valtuuskuntineen formed from the base word?
It starts with the noun valtuuskunta (delegation). First, we take the plural stem valtuuskunti-. Then we add the comitative ending -ne, and finally the third-person possessive suffix -en (a variation of -nsa, meaning his or her).
The English translation says with his delegation (singular). Why does the Finnish word use the plural stem -i-?
The comitative case is unique because it always attaches to the plural stem of a noun, even if the actual meaning is singular! You have to rely on context to know if the president had one delegation or several.
Is the possessive suffix -en at the end of valtuuskuntineen mandatory?
Yes. When using the comitative case with a noun, you must always attach a possessive suffix to the very end of the word. Here, it points back to the president to show it was his delegation.
Could I just use the word kanssa (with) instead of this complicated case?
Absolutely! You could say valtuuskunnan kanssa and it would mean the exact same thing. The comitative case (-ine) is quite formal and mostly used in written Finnish, like news reports, whereas kanssa is much more common in everyday communication.
Why does the sentence use palatsista instead of palatsilta to say from the palace?
Because a palatsi (palace) is a physical building you can go inside, Finnish prefers the internal location cases. The elative ending -sta specifically means leaving from the inside of a place, rather than just walking away from its general area.
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