Breakdown of Hän antoi minulle lasisen kupin eilen.
minä
I
hän
he / she
kuppi
cup
antaa
to give
eilen
yesterday
lasinen
made of glass
Questions & Answers about Hän antoi minulle lasisen kupin eilen.
How does the suffix -inen work to make the word lasinen?
The suffix -inen is used to turn a noun into an adjective describing material or quality. Here, it attaches to the noun lasi (glass) to create lasinen (made of glass).
Why does the adjective change to lasisen instead of staying lasinen?
Adjectives must match the case of the noun they modify. Since the object kupin is in the accusative case (ending in -n), the adjective must do the same. For words ending in -nen, the stem changes to -se- before adding the -n, turning lasinen into lasisen.
Why are lasisen kupin in the accusative case (ending in -n) rather than the partitive?
The accusative case (which looks like the genitive here) is used because the action is complete and involves a whole, countable object. He gave one entire cup, and the giving was a finished action. If the action were ongoing, we would use the partitive.
Why is minulle (to me) in the allative case here?
The verb antaa (to give) requires the recipient of the gift to be in the allative case, which ends in -lle. In Finnish, you conceptually say that you give something onto someone.
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