Questions & Answers about Taikinassa on kanelia ja sokeria.
Why is the verb on singular when there are two things in the dough?
In Finnish existential sentences (sentences starting with a location), the verb is always in the third-person singular (on). It never becomes plural, even if the subject consists of multiple items or plural words.
Why are the subjects kanelia and sokeria in the partitive case?
In an existential sentence, the subject takes the partitive case if it is an uncountable mass noun, such as a food ingredient or material. Both kaneli (cinnamon) and sokeri (sugar) are uncountable mass nouns here.
How does the word order show that this means "There is..."?
How would the Finnish change if I wanted to say "The cinnamon and sugar are in the dough"?
You would change the word order to Subject + Verb + Location: Kaneli ja sokeri ovat taikinassa. Because this is no longer an existential sentence, the subjects take the basic nominative case, and the verb changes to the plural (ovat) to agree with them.
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