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Questions & Answers about Näen konttia lastattavan.
Why use lastattavan instead of an että clause?
This sentence uses the referative construction, which is a more advanced, compact way to replace an että (that) clause. It is very common after verbs of perception like näen (I see) or kuulen (I hear). The longer, everyday version of this sentence would be Näen, että konttia lastataan.
How do you form the word lastattavan?
It comes from the type 4 verb lastata (to load). First, form the present passive lastataan (is loaded). Then, drop the final -an and replace it with -va to get the present passive participle lastattava. Finally, add the genitive -n ending required by the referative construction, resulting in lastattavan.
Why is konttia in the partitive case here?
In this construction, the object of the passive action keeps the exact same case it would have in a normal passive sentence. Because the loading is an ongoing action happening right as you watch it, the object kontti must be in the partitive case (konttia), just as it would be in the standalone sentence Konttia lastataan (The container is being loaded).
How would this sentence change if we knew who was loading the container?