Questions & Answers about Hanhi on ankkaa hyödyllisempi.
Why is the word for duck, ankkaa, in the partitive case here?
In Finnish, you can express 'more than' without using the word kuin (than). Instead, you put the thing being compared to (the standard of comparison) in the partitive case. By using the partitive ankkaa, the sentence covers 'than the duck' all in one word.
Why is ankkaa placed before hyödyllisempi?
When you use the partitive case to express 'than' instead of using kuin, the word in the partitive usually comes directly before the comparative adjective. If you used kuin instead, it would come after the adjective: hyödyllisempi kuin ankka.
How do we get hyödyllisempi from the basic adjective hyödyllinen (useful)?
Words ending in -nen change their ending to -se- before adding the comparative marker -mpi. So hyödyllinen drops the -nen, adds -se-, and then adds -mpi, resulting in hyödyllisempi.