Breakdown of Minä en pidä parketista enkä hirrestä.
minä
I
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
pitää
to like
parketti
parquet
hirsi
log
Questions & Answers about Minä en pidä parketista enkä hirrestä.
Why do we use enkä here instead of the dictionary form eikä?
The conjunction meaning 'neither... nor' is made by attaching the suffix -kä to the negative verb. Because the subject of the sentence is minä (I), the negative verb must be conjugated in the first-person singular (en). When you add the suffix, you get enkä. If the subject were 'he' or 'she', you would use eikä.
Why do parketista and hirrestä have the -sta and -stä endings?
The verb pitää (when it means 'to like') requires the object to be in the elative case, which ends in -sta or -stä. Since both 'parquet' and 'log' are things the speaker doesn't like, both nouns must take this case ending.
The dictionary form for 'log' is hirsi. How do we get the form hirrestä?
Old Finnish words ending in -si usually change to -te- in their stem. For hirsi, this gives a basic stem of hirte-. However, adding the closed case ending -stä triggers consonant gradation, changing the strong rt into a weak rr. This makes the final word hirrestä.
Can I repeat the main verb and say enkä pidä hirrestä?
You could, and it would be grammatically correct, but it sounds unnecessarily repetitive. Finnish naturally drops the repeated main verb after the -kä conjunction in sentences like this, simply leaving the second object.
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