Breakdown of Poika, jota kielsimme tappelemasta, on vihainen.
olla
to be
poika
boy
vihainen
angry
kieltää
to forbid
joka
who / which (relative pronoun)
tapella
to fight
Questions & Answers about Poika, jota kielsimme tappelemasta, on vihainen.
Why does "from fighting" translate to tappelemasta with the -masta ending?
The verb kieltää (to forbid) is a verb of prevention. In Finnish, when you forbid someone from doing an action, that action must be in the 3rd infinitive elative form (-masta or -mästä). You can think of it as physically preventing someone out of doing an action.
Why is the relative pronoun jota in the partitive case here, instead of jonka?
The verb kieltää requires a partitive object for the person who is being forbidden. Because "the boy" is the object of "we forbade" in the relative clause, the relative pronoun referring back to him (joka) must take the partitive form, which is jota.
How do we get from the dictionary form of the verb to tappelemasta?
The base verb is tapella (to fight). To form the 3rd infinitive, we use the strong vowel stem. Because of consonant gradation, the single p strengthens to a double pp, giving the stem tappele-. Then we add the 3rd infinitive marker -ma- and the elative case ending -sta.
Why is there an s in kielsimme if the base verb is kieltää?
This is due to a common sound change in the past tense (imperfect). When the past tense marker -i- is added to many verbs ending in -taa or -tää (like kieltää, tietää, or tuntea), the t changes to an s. So the stem kieltä- becomes kielsi-, followed by the "we" ending -mme.
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