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Onko lehmä hevosta painavampi?

Onko lehmä hevosta painavampi?
Is the cow heavier than the horse?
From Lesson 205:Comparisons with the partitive·Finnish

Breakdown of Onko lehmä hevosta painavampi?

olla
to be
painava
heavy
hevonen
horse
lehmä
cow

Questions & Answers about Onko lehmä hevosta painavampi?

Why is hevosta in the partitive case here?
This sentence uses the partitive comparative structure. Instead of using the word kuin (than) followed by the basic nominative form (kuin hevonen), you can drop kuin and put the thing being compared to in the partitive case (hevosta). Both mean "than the horse".
Why does hevosta come before the adjective painavampi?
In this partitive comparative structure, the word in the partitive case (hevosta) must be placed immediately before the comparative adjective (painavampi). If you used the kuin structure, the order would be the other way around: painavampi kuin hevonen.
Could I use kuin in this sentence instead?
Yes, absolutely! You could say Onko lehmä painavampi kuin hevonen? and it would mean exactly the same thing. The partitive structure (hevosta painavampi) is just a slightly shorter, very common alternative you will hear native speakers use.
How do we get hevosta from the basic word hevonen?
This is a good reminder for words ending in -nen. To form the partitive, you replace the -nen ending with -sta or -stä. Therefore, hevonen becomes hevosta.
How is the comparative word painavampi formed?
The base adjective is painava (heavy). To make it comparative (heavier), you take the vowel stem of the word and add the comparative suffix -mpi. Since painava already ends in a vowel, you just attach -mpi to get painavampi.

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