Questions & Answers about Tämä rahasto auttaa väestöä.
How is the word rahasto (fund) formed?
It is formed by adding the collective suffix -sto to the noun raha (money). The -sto or -stö suffix turns a base word into a collective noun, meaning a group, collection, or system of that thing. So, a collection of money becomes a fund.
What is the base word for väestöä (population), and why does it use -stö instead of -sto?
The base word is väki, which means people or a crowd. It uses the -stö ending instead of -sto because of vowel harmony. The word väki contains front vowels (ä, e, i), so it requires the front vowel version of the suffix. Notice that the -i at the end of väki changes to an -e- before adding the suffix, making it väestö.
Why is väestöä in the partitive case here?
The verb auttaa (to help) is a partitive verb. In Finnish, whoever or whatever you are helping must always be in the partitive case. The base nominative form is väestö, and adding the partitive ending -ä gives us väestöä.
Since collective nouns like rahasto and väestö represent groups of things, do they take plural verbs?
No, grammatically they are treated as singular nouns. Notice that the verb auttaa is in the third-person singular form. It matches the singular subject Tämä rahasto, even though a fund is made up of a collection of money and a population is made up of many people.
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