Word
Kuumimmassa autiomaassa lämpötila on viisikymmentä astetta.
Meaning
In the hottest desert, the temperature is fifty degrees.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kuumimmassa autiomaassa lämpötila on viisikymmentä astetta.
olla
to be
viisikymmentä
fifty
kuuma
hot
lämpötila
the temperature
Questions & Answers about Kuumimmassa autiomaassa lämpötila on viisikymmentä astetta.
How do we form the superlative kuumimmassa from the basic adjective kuuma?
The superlative of kuuma (hot) is kuumin (hottest). When adding a case ending like the inessive -ssa (in), the -in ending turns into a stem. Because the ending -ssa closes the syllable, we use the weak grade stem -imma-. This gives us kuumimma- + -ssa = kuumimmassa.
When would we use the strong grade stem -impa- instead of the weak grade -imma-?
We use the strong grade stem -impa- (or -impä-) when the case ending does not close the syllable. For example, the illative case (into) just lengthens the vowel, leaving the syllable open. So, 'into the hottest' would use the strong grade: kuumimpaan.
Why is astetta in the partitive case here?
In Finnish, whenever you use a number greater than one, the noun following it must be in the partitive singular. Because the temperature is viisikymmentä (fifty), the base word aste (degree) takes the partitive ending to become astetta.
Looking closely at viisikymmentä, why is the second half of the word in the partitive case?