Questions & Answers about Opettaja innostui ideastamme.
Why is "ideastamme" in the elative case (-sta) here?
The verb innostua (to get excited) is an emotion verb that requires the thing you are excited about to be in the elative case. While English uses "about", Finnish logically treats the idea as the source that the excitement comes "out of".
What is the difference between "innostua" and "innostaa"?
Innostua means "to get excited" (a change happening to the subject). Innostaa, on the other hand, means "to excite" or "to inspire" someone else. Finnish frequently uses paired emotion verbs like this, where the -U- or -Y- ending shows that the subject is experiencing the feeling rather than causing it.
Could I write "meidän ideastamme" instead?
Yes, you could. However, for 1st and 2nd person possessive suffixes like -mme (our), the genitive pronoun (meidän) is optional. The suffix alone is perfectly clear and very common in standard Finnish.
How is the past tense form "innostui" formed from "innostua"?
To form the past tense (imperfekti) for a verb ending in -ua like innostua, you drop the final -a and add the past tense marker -i. Since this is a third-person singular subject (opettaja), no additional personal ending is attached.