Breakdown of Orkideani tarvitsee lannoitetta kolme kertaa kuukaudessa.
kolme
three
kerta
time
tarvita
to need
kuukausi
month
orkidea
orchid
lannoite
fertilizer
Questions & Answers about Orkideani tarvitsee lannoitetta kolme kertaa kuukaudessa.
Why does 'a month' translate to kuukaudessa here?
When expressing frequency, Finnish uses the inessive case (the -ssa or -ssä ending, which usually means 'in'). So 'three times a month' is formed literally as 'three times in a month' (kolme kertaa kuukaudessa). You use this exact same pattern for other time periods, like viikossa (in a week) or vuodessa (in a year).
Why is the word for 'time' in the partitive case (kertaa)?
Why is the fertilizer (lannoitetta) in the partitive case?
The verb tarvita (to need) takes an object in the partitive case when referring to an uncountable mass noun or an indefinite amount. The orchid needs 'some fertilizer' rather than one specific, indivisible unit of it, so the base word lannoite gets the partitive -tta ending.
How does the base word kuukausi (month) turn into kuukaudessa?
Words ending in -si often have a word stem ending in -te-, making the basic stem for this word kuukaute-. When you add a closed ending like -ssa, consonant gradation is triggered. This softens the strong t in the stem into a weak d, resulting in kuukaudessa.
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