Breakdown of Pöydillä on lämpimiä korvapuusteja ja sämpylöitä.
olla
to be
ja
and
pöytä
table
lämmin
warm
korvapuusti
cinnamon roll
sämpylä
bread roll
Questions & Answers about Pöydillä on lämpimiä korvapuusteja ja sämpylöitä.
Why is the verb on singular when there are multiple rolls?
This is a classic Finnish existential sentence (a "there is/are" sentence). They start with a location (Pöydillä), followed by the verb in the 3rd person singular (on), regardless of whether the subject that follows is singular or plural.
Why is the location Pöydillä instead of Pöydällä?
Pöydällä means "on the table" (singular), but here the things are on multiple tables. The -i- before the -llä ending is the plural marker.
How do we get lämpimiä from the basic word for warm, lämmin?
The adjective lämmin has the stem lämpimä-. To make it partitive plural to match the nouns, we add the plural -i- and the partitive ending -ä. The final -ä of the stem drops out to make way for the plural -i-, resulting in lämpimiä.
Why does the word for bread rolls become sämpylöitä instead of sämpyläitä?
When adding the plural -i- to three-syllable words ending in -a or -ä, that final vowel changes to -o- or -ö-. So the final -ä in sämpylä changes to -ö- before the plural partitive ending -itä.
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