Breakdown of Te ette asenna kaakelia ettekä laminaattia nopeasti.
te
you (plural/formal)
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
nopeasti
fast
asentaa
to install
laminaatti
laminate
kaakeli
tile
Questions & Answers about Te ette asenna kaakelia ettekä laminaattia nopeasti.
Why do we use ettekä here instead of the standard eikä?
The conjunction meaning "neither... nor" is formed using the negative verb. Just like the main negative verb (ette) must match the subject te (you plural), the "nor" part must also match it. You take ette and add the clitic -kä to get ettekä.
Why are the words for tile (kaakelia) and laminate (laminaattia) in the partitive case?
In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. Since this sentence is negative (you are not installing them), both objects take the partitive -a ending.
Why is the main verb written as asenna instead of asennatte?
In negative sentences, the main verb drops its personal ending and takes the connegative form. You find this by taking the minä form (asennan) and dropping the -n. The negative verb ette already tells us the subject is plural you.
Why does asenna have a double n when the dictionary form is asentaa?
This is due to consonant gradation. When forming the minä form (asennan), the syllable becomes closed, triggering the strong-to-weak change from nt to nn. This weak stem is carried over to the connegative form used here.
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