Questions & Answers about Kuorolla on useita kannattajia.
Why are we using the partitive plural useita instead of the basic form usea?
In Finnish 'to have' sentences, if the things you have are an indefinite plural amount (like 'several supporters'), they must be in the partitive plural. The quantifier usea (several) must agree in case and number with the noun it describes, so both take the partitive plural: useita kannattajia.
How do we get the form useita from the base word usea?
To form the partitive plural, you need the plural marker -i- and the partitive ending -ta. When you add the -i- to usea, the final -a drops out to avoid a tricky three-vowel combination, giving the stem usei-. Adding the partitive ending makes it useita.
Why is the choir in the adessive case (Kuorolla)?
Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, it uses a possessive structure where the owner takes the adessive ending -lla or -llä followed by the verb on (is). So Kuorolla on literally means 'On the choir is', which we translate as 'The choir has'.
Where does the word kannattaja (supporter) come from?
It is built from the verb kannattaa (to support). By adding the suffix -ja, which signifies a person who does an action (just like '-er' in English), you get kannattaja. Here it appears in the partitive plural form kannattajia.
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