Breakdown of Onko jommallakummalla pennulla jo siru?
olla
to be
jo
already
pentu
the puppy
jompikumpi
either (of two)
siru
the microchip
Questions & Answers about Onko jommallakummalla pennulla jo siru?
Why is jompikumpi spelled as jommallakummalla here?
The pronoun jompikumpi means "either". It is a compound word, and unusually, both halves decline to match the case! Here, we need the adessive case (-lla). When adding endings, the -mp- in jompi also weakens to -mm- due to consonant gradation, giving us jomma-lla-kumma-lla.
Why are we using the adessive case (-lla) for the puppy?
Finnish doesn't have a verb for "to have". Instead, it uses the adessive case (-lla or -llä) plus the verb olla (to be). Literally, this sentence asks "Is on either puppy a microchip?". Because jommallakummalla describes the puppy, it also has to take the -lla ending to match pennulla.
What happened to the t in the word pentu (puppy)?
Pentu undergoes consonant gradation. When we add the ending -lla, it closes the final syllable. This causes the strong consonant cluster -nt- to weaken to its soft grade -nn-, making pentu become pennulla.
Why is siru (microchip) in the nominative case rather than the partitive?
In the Finnish "to have" structure, the thing being owned is usually in the basic nominative case if it is a complete, countable object. A microchip is a single, countable thing, so it stays as siru.
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