Breakdown of Laitamme silmätippoja molempiin silmiin.
silmä
eye
laittaa
to put
molemmat
both (of them)
silmätippa
eye drop
Questions & Answers about Laitamme silmätippoja molempiin silmiin.
Why does molemmat (both) change to molempiin here?
In Finnish, pronouns like molemmat must match the case of the noun they describe. Because the drops are going into the eyes (silmiin), the word for both must also be in the plural illative case. We take the stem molempi- and add the plural illative ending -in, resulting in molempiin.
Why do we use the directional 'into' case (molempiin silmiin) instead of the 'in' case (molemmissa silmissä)?
This is driven by the verb laittaa (to put). In Finnish, verbs of placing, putting, or leaving require a directional case (where to). You are actively moving the drops into the eyes, so we use the illative case, rather than describing an action happening while already located inside them.
Why is silmätippoja (eye drops) in the plural partitive case?
Because the eye drops represent an unspecified quantity here. The sentence implies we are putting some amount of eye drops rather than a specific, known number of them. When dealing with an indefinite amount of a plural noun, we use the plural partitive.
How is the plural illative word silmiin formed from the base word silmä?