Breakdown of Useat kannattajat osallistuivat eilen mielenosoitukseen.
eilen
yesterday
osallistua
to participate
usea
several
kannattaja
supporter
mielenosoitus
demonstration
Questions & Answers about Useat kannattajat osallistuivat eilen mielenosoitukseen.
Why is useat in the plural nominative here instead of the partitive like many other quantifiers?
In Finnish, usea (several) behaves like an adjective and agrees with the noun it modifies. Because kannattajat (supporters) is the subject of the sentence and is in the plural nominative, usea must also take the plural nominative ending -t, becoming useat. This is different from numbers like kaksi or words like pari, which force the following noun into the partitive singular.
Doesn't usea usually take the partitive plural, like useita?
It depends on its role in the sentence. When it acts as the subject of a normal sentence like this one, it takes the nominative plural (useat). You would use the partitive plural (useita) when it acts as an object, for example in Näin useita kannattajia (I saw several supporters).
Why is mielenosoitus (demonstration) in the illative case (mielenosoitukseen)?
The verb osallistua (to participate) is a rection verb that always requires the target to be in the illative case (the into case). In Finnish, you literally participate into an event. The word mielenosoitus ends in -us, which changes to the stem -ukse- before adding the illative ending -en.
How does the long word mielenosoitus break down?
It is a compound word. It combines mielen (the genitive form of mieli, meaning mind or opinion) and osoitus (a showing or indication). So a demonstration is literally a showing of opinion.
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