Breakdown of Nämä vanhat kengät ovat todella kuluneita.
tämä
this
olla
to be
vanha
old
kenkä
the shoe
todella
really (very, intensifier)
kulunut
worn out
Questions & Answers about Nämä vanhat kengät ovat todella kuluneita.
Why is kuluneita in the partitive plural instead of the nominative plural?
This is the main rule for plural subject complements! When you have a regular plural subject in the nominative case, like Nämä vanhat kengät, the adjective describing it after the verb must be in the partitive plural. That is why we use kuluneita instead of kuluneet.
What is the base form of kuluneita, and how do we build this partitive plural form?
The base form is kulunut (worn out). For words ending in -nut or -nyt, the stem changes that ending to -ne- before adding plural suffixes. Then, we add the partitive plural ending -ita, giving us kuluneita.
Why is the subject (Nämä vanhat kengät) in the nominative plural rather than the partitive plural?
In a standard descriptive sentence ('A is B'), the subject takes the nominative case. You would only use a partitive plural subject in an existential sentence, like when saying 'there are some old shoes'. Because we are talking about specific shoes (Nämä), they must stay in the nominative.
Is kulunut an adjective or a verb form?
It acts as a descriptive adjective here, but it is originally a participle from the verb kulua (to wear out). Participles often become normal adjectives in Finnish, and they follow all the regular rules for case endings, which is why it can be put into the partitive plural just like any other describing word.
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