Question 1

How does the word sadoittain get its meaning of "by the hundreds"?

Accepted Answer

It uses the distributive suffix -ittain, which is the focus of this lesson. We start with the root word sata (hundred). First, we form the plural stem sadoi- (which undergoes consonant gradation from 't' to 'd' and adds the plural 'i'). Then, we attach the suffix -ttain. Together, this creates an adverb meaning "in hundreds" or "by the hundreds".

Question 2

Why is the verb lentää in the singular form when the subject "birds" is plural?

Accepted Answer

This is an existential sentence, which states that something exists in a specific place. In Finnish, these usually follow a Location + Verb + Subject word order. A key rule is that when the subject is an undefined amount in the partitive plural (like lintuja), the verb is always in the third-person singular (lentää) instead of the plural form.

Question 3

Why do we use the adessive case taivaalla for "in the sky"?

Accepted Answer

While English uses "in", Finnish typically treats the sky as an open, vast surface or expanse above us rather than a closed container. Because of this, it takes the adessive or "on" case (-lla) rather than the inessive (-ssa).

Question 4

Could we use the nominative plural linnut instead of the partitive plural lintuja here?

Accepted Answer

Using linnut would change the meaning to "the birds" (specific, known birds). If you did that, it would no longer be an existential sentence, and you would need to change the word order and make the verb plural: Linnut lentävät taivaalla (The birds are flying in the sky). Because we are talking about an undefined mass of birds, we need the partitive plural lintuja.

Taivaalla lentää lintuja sadoittain.

Breakdown of Taivaalla lentää lintuja sadoittain.

Questions & Answers about Taivaalla lentää lintuja sadoittain.

Learn Taivaalla lentää lintuja sadoittain and more in Finnish