Breakdown of Uusi kangas on kaunis, ja tuoli on nyt verhoiltu.
olla
to be
tuoli
chair
ja
and
nyt
now
uusi
new
kaunis
beautiful
kangas
fabric
verhoilla
to upholster
Questions & Answers about Uusi kangas on kaunis, ja tuoli on nyt verhoiltu.
How is the word verhoiltu built in this sentence?
Verhoiltu is the past passive participle of the verb verhoilla (to upholster). You are learning that these participles (ending in -tu or -ty) act like adjectives describing something that has been acted upon. For a type 3 verb like verhoilla, you drop the final -a and add -tu to get verhoiltu (upholstered).
Is on verhoiltu a passive verb tense here, or an adjective?
In this sentence, it acts as an adjective describing the current physical state of the chair. It looks identical to the passive perfect tense, which means 'has been upholstered'. Because it functions as an adjective here, if you were describing the state of multiple chairs, it would agree in number and you would say tuolit ovat verhoillut.
I noticed verhoiltu looks like the word for curtains (verhot). Are they related?
Yes! The root word is verho, which means a curtain, drape, or cover. The verb verhoilla means to cover with fabric or to upholster. It is very common in Finnish to build new specific verbs out of basic nouns like this.
What happens to the word kangas (fabric) if I need to add endings to it?
Kangas is a great word to review for stem changes. When you add an ending, the -as becomes -aa-. It also undergoes consonant gradation, where the ng in the basic form becomes a strong nk in the stem. For example, to say 'of the fabric' you would use the genitive form kankaan.
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