Breakdown of Tämäkään pentu ei tarvitse rokotusta.
tämä
this
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
tarvita
to need
pentu
the puppy
rokotus
the vaccination
Questions & Answers about Tämäkään pentu ei tarvitse rokotusta.
What does the suffix -kään do in Tämäkään?
The suffix -kään (or -kaan) is the negative equivalent of -kin (also/too). Because this is a negative sentence (ei tarvitse), we use -kään attached to tämä to mean 'this puppy either' or 'not even this puppy'.
Why is the object rokotusta in the partitive case?
In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. Even if a puppy would normally receive a whole, complete vaccination, the negative verb ei tarvitse forces the base word rokotus (vaccination) into its partitive form rokotusta.
Why is the negative verb form ei tarvitse and not just ei tarvi?
The verb tarvita (to need) belongs to verb type 5. For these verbs ending in -ita or -itä, you find the stem by dropping the final -a or -ä and adding -se-. This gives the stem tarvitse-, making the negative form ei tarvitse. While you will hear ei tarvi very often in everyday spoken Finnish, ei tarvitse is the correct standard written form.
How would this sentence change if I wanted to say 'Neither puppy needs a vaccination' using the lesson's dual pronouns?
If you are talking about exactly two puppies, you would use kumpikaan, which is the negative form of the dual pronoun kumpikin (each/both). The sentence would become: Kumpikaan pentu ei tarvitse rokotusta. Using Tämäkään instead just means 'This puppy either', without implying there are only two puppies total.
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