Word
Henkilöstö osaa käyttää uutta laitteistoa.
Meaning
The personnel knows how to use the new equipment.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Henkilöstö osaa käyttää uutta laitteistoa.
uusi
new
osata
to know how to
käyttää
to use
laitteisto
equipment (machinery, hardware)
Questions & Answers about Henkilöstö osaa käyttää uutta laitteistoa.
How does the -stö suffix change the meaning of henkilö?
The word henkilö means "person". Adding the collective suffix -stö turns it into a noun representing a group of that thing. So, a group of persons becomes henkilöstö (personnel or staff). It uses -stö rather than -sto because of vowel harmony with the front vowels in henkilö.
What is the root word of laitteistoa and how is it formed?
The base word is laite (device or machine). When you add the collective suffix -sto, it becomes a collection of devices: laitteisto (equipment or hardware). Notice that the stem changes from laite to laittei- before the suffix is added. The -a at the very end is the partitive case ending.
"Personnel" refers to multiple people. Why is the verb osaa in the singular form?
In Finnish, collective nouns like henkilöstö are grammatically singular, even though they represent a group of people. Therefore, the verb must also be in the third-person singular (osaa rather than osaavat), much like how we say "the staff knows" in English.
Why is "new equipment" in the partitive case (uutta laitteistoa)?