Breakdown of Emme osta tuota kiinteistöä ennen kuntotarkastusta.
tuo
that
ei
no / not (negative verb)
ostaa
to buy
ennen
before
Questions & Answers about Emme osta tuota kiinteistöä ennen kuntotarkastusta.
This lesson is about verbs like ostaa taking the elative or ablative cases. Since those aren't used here, how would we add that we aren't buying it 'from the broker' (välittäjä)?
We would use the ablative case: välittäjältä. The verb ostaa requires 'from' cases (the ablative -lta/-ltä for people, or elative -sta/-stä for places) to indicate the source of a purchase. Because this sentence only mentions what we are buying and when, those cases aren't needed here.
Why is the object tuota kiinteistöä in the partitive case?
Because the sentence is negative (emme osta). In Finnish, the object of a negative verb must always be in the partitive case. This strict rule overrides other object rules. If this were a positive sentence ('We will buy that property'), the object would take the genitive-looking accusative: Ostamme tuon kiinteistön.
Why does kuntotarkastusta also end in the partitive -ta?
This is required by the word ennen (before). When ennen is used as a preposition, the word that immediately follows it must always be in the partitive case.
How does the compound word kuntotarkastusta break down?
It is made up of the words kunto (condition or shape) and tarkastus (inspection or check). The final -ta is the partitive ending.