Breakdown of Jätä myrkyllinen sieni metsään!
metsä
forest
jättää
to leave (something behind)
sieni
mushroom
myrkyllinen
toxic
Questions & Answers about Jätä myrkyllinen sieni metsään!
Why do we use the illative form metsään (into the forest) when the English translation says "in the forest"?
In Finnish, verbs that express leaving, staying, building, or forgetting something somewhere (like jättää) are thought of as directional. You are leaving the mushroom into the forest, so the location requires the illative case.
Why are myrkyllinen and sieni in their basic forms? Shouldn't a total object end in -n?
Normally, a single whole object takes the -n ending (the accusative case). However, because the verb jätä is an imperative (a command), the object drops the -n and looks exactly like the basic nominative form.
If the dictionary form is jättää, why does the command form jätä only have one t?
To make the singular command form, you find the "minä" form of the verb (jätän) and drop the -n. Because jätän ends in a closed syllable, consonant gradation kicks in and weakens the strong tt to a single t.
Would it be wrong to use the partitive case here and say Jätä myrkyllistä sientä metsään?
It wouldn't be grammatically wrong, but it changes the meaning. Sieni is a countable noun, so using the partitive singular would mean leaving an incomplete amount: "Leave some of the toxic mushroom". To say "Leave (some) toxic mushrooms" in the plural, you would use the partitive plural: Jätä myrkyllisiä sieniä metsään.
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