Question 1

Why does the sentence start with Mistä (from where) instead of Missä (where)?

Accepted Answer

This is a special rule (verb rection) for the verb löytää (to find). In English you find something in a place, but in Finnish you find something from a place. Therefore, you must use a "from" case—in this situation, the elative case. This makes the question word mistä (from where) rather than missä (in where).

Question 2

The dictionary form of the verb is löytää. Why is the past tense löysit rather than "löydit"?

Accepted Answer

When building the past tense, the past tense marker -i- is added to the verb stem, replacing the final vowel (löytä- becomes löyti-). However, in Finnish, a t usually changes to an s when it sits directly in front of the past tense -i-. Because of this rule, löyti- changes to löysi-, and adding the "you" ending gives us löysit.

Question 3

Why do the words tuon, kauniin, and asunnon all end in -n here?

Accepted Answer

Together, they form the total object of the sentence: "that beautiful apartment". Because finding the apartment is a fully completed action, the object is put into the genitive accusative case, which ends in -n. Remember that in Finnish, any pointing words (tuo -> tuon) and adjectives (kaunis -> kauniin) must match the case of the noun they describe (asunto -> asunnon).

Question 4

What happens to the consonants in the word asunto to make it asunnon?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of consonant gradation. Adding the -n ending at the end of the word closes the final syllable. This triggers the strong consonant combination -nt- in the middle of the word to weaken into a double -nn-, turning asunto into asunnon.

Mistä löysit tuon kauniin asunnon?

Breakdown of Mistä löysit tuon kauniin asunnon?

Questions & Answers about Mistä löysit tuon kauniin asunnon?

Learn Mistä löysit tuon kauniin asunnon and more in Finnish