Breakdown of Pidin juhlaa suurena menestyksenä.
juhla
party
suuri
large, great
pitää
to consider (as)
menestys
success
Questions & Answers about Pidin juhlaa suurena menestyksenä.
Why does pidin mean 'I considered' here, rather than 'I liked' or 'I kept'?
The verb pitää changes meaning based on the cases surrounding it. When you use pitää with an object in the partitive case (juhlaa) and a description in the essive case (suurena menestyksenä), it specifically means 'to consider [something] as [something]'. If it meant 'I liked', the object would be in the elative case (pidin juhlasta).
Why is juhlaa in the partitive case?
In this 'to consider' sentence structure, the object you are expressing an opinion about must always be in the partitive case. Here, the basic word juhla (party) becomes juhlaa.
Why do both suurena and menestyksenä end in -na/-nä?
They are in the essive case, which often translates to 'as a...'. When expressing what you consider the object to be using pitää, you must put that description in the essive case. Both the adjective (suuri) and the noun (menestys) have to agree and take the essive ending.
The lesson also mentions the translative case. Could I say suureksi menestykseksi instead?
Not with the verb pitää. While both cases can be used to express opinions or roles, pitää strictly requires the essive case (-na/-nä). The translative case (-ksi) is used with verbs like luulla (to mistakenly think or presume) or verbs expressing a change of state.
How does the word menestys turn into menestyksenä?
The base word is menestys (success). In Finnish, words ending in -us or -ys usually change their stem to -ukse- or -ykse- before you add a case ending. So, menestys becomes the stem menestykse-, and then we add the essive ending -nä.
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