Breakdown of Korjaan tietokoneen pienellä ruuvimeisselillä.
pieni
small
tietokone
computer
korjata
to fix
ruuvimeisseli
the screwdriver
Questions & Answers about Korjaan tietokoneen pienellä ruuvimeisselillä.
We usually learn that the -lla/-llä ending means 'on'. Why does it translate to 'with' in ruuvimeisselillä?
The adessive case (-lla/-llä) isn't just for locations. It is also the standard way to express the instrument, tool, or vehicle used to perform an action. Here, ruuvimeisselillä tells us the tool being used, meaning 'with a screwdriver' or 'by means of a screwdriver'.
Why does the adjective pieni (small) also take the -llä ending to become pienellä?
In Finnish, adjectives must always agree with the grammatical case of the noun they describe. Because the tool ruuvimeisselillä is in the adessive case, its describing adjective pieni must also take the adessive ending.
How do we get from the dictionary form pieni to the stem used in pienellä?
Many older Finnish words ending in -i change that final -i to an -e- before adding case endings. So pieni becomes the stem piene-, to which we add the -llä ending.
Why is the object tietokoneen in the genitive-looking accusative case instead of the partitive case (tietokonetta)?
This object case shows that the action is intended to be completed. Using tietokoneen implies you are fixing the entire computer and plan to finish the job. If you were just tinkering with it, or if the fixing process was still ongoing, you would use the partitive tietokonetta.
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