Breakdown of Tässä autoliikkeessä on vain yksi manuaali, mutta toisessa on monta.
tämä
this
olla
to be
mutta
but
yksi
one
vain
only
toinen
other, another; second
moni
many (a)
autoliike
car dealership
manuaali
manual transmission
Questions & Answers about Tässä autoliikkeessä on vain yksi manuaali, mutta toisessa on monta.
Why do we use toisessa (from toinen) here instead of a form of muu (other)?
Toinen is used when referring to another item of the same kind or from a specific set. Here, we are talking about another car dealership, so we use toinen. If we wanted to refer to something completely different or say 'somewhere else', we would use a form of muu.
Why does toinen take the inessive -ssa ending here?
It replaces the full phrase 'in another car dealership'. To avoid repeating the word autoliike, Finnish just keeps the pronoun toinen, but it must still carry the inessive case (toisessa) to show the location, matching tässä autoliikkeessä from the first part of the sentence.
Why does the sentence say tässä autoliikkeessä instead of tämä autoliike?
Finnish does not have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, it uses a 'location + on' structure. To say 'this car dealership has', you literally say 'in this car dealership is'. Both the pronoun tämä (this) and the noun autoliike must take the inessive ending, becoming tässä autoliikkeessä.
Why does the sentence end with the partitive word monta?
In 'to have' sentences, when you possess an undefined plural amount of something, the thing you have is put in the partitive case. Monta is the partitive form of moni (many). Since it represents the cars being owned here, the partitive form is required.
Does manuaali mean an instruction book in this sentence?
While manuaali does mean an instruction manual or handbook, in the context of an autoliike (car dealership), it is a common everyday word for a car with a manual transmission.
Learn Tässä autoliikkeessä on vain yksi manuaali, mutta toisessa on monta and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free