Breakdown of Me marssimme eilen mielenosoituksessa monen ystävän kanssa.
me
we
ystävä
friend
eilen
yesterday
kanssa
with
moni
many (a)
marssia
to march
mielenosoitus
demonstration
Questions & Answers about Me marssimme eilen mielenosoituksessa monen ystävän kanssa.
Why is it monen ystävän (singular genitive) instead of plural when the English translation says 'many friends'?
The word moni (many) often uses singular endings to express a plural idea, similar to the English phrase 'many a friend'. The postposition kanssa (with) requires the word before it to be in the genitive case. Therefore, both moni and ystävä take the singular genitive ending -n, giving us monen ystävän.
Is it also correct to use the plural form, monien ystävien kanssa?
Yes, it is! Both the singular monen ystävän kanssa and the plural monien ystävien kanssa are correct and mean the same thing. However, Finnish speakers frequently prefer the singular forms of moni because they are shorter and easier to say.
The word for 'demonstration' is mielenosoitus. How does it become mielenosoituksessa?
Words ending in -us or -ys usually change the final -s to -kse- before you add a case ending. The base is mielenosoitus (literally 'mind-showing'), which changes to the stem mielenosoitukse-. Then you add the -ssa ending to mean 'in the demonstration'.
Does the verb marssimme (we marched) look exactly the same in the present tense?
Yes, it does! For this type of verb, the past tense marker -i- blends into the existing -i- at the end of the stem (marssi-). Because 'we march' and 'we marched' are both marssimme, you have to look for context clues like eilen (yesterday) to know it is in the past tense.
Learn Me marssimme eilen mielenosoituksessa monen ystävän kanssa and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free