Breakdown of Kirjat lajitellaan hyllyyn aiheittain.
kirja
book
hylly
the shelf
lajitella
to sort
aiheittain
by topic
Questions & Answers about Kirjat lajitellaan hyllyyn aiheittain.
How is the word aiheittain formed to mean "by topic"?
It uses the distributive suffix -ittain/-ittäin, which is the focus of this lesson. It attaches to the plural stem of a noun to mean "by [noun]". The base word is aihe (topic). Its plural stem is aihei-. Adding -ttain gives us aiheittain (by topic).
Since the books are the object being sorted, why is Kirjat in the basic nominative form instead of the partitive?
In a passive sentence like this one (using lajitellaan, "are sorted"), the direct object does not take a typical object marker. Complete, plural objects in passive sentences stay in the nominative plural form, which is kirjat.
The English translation says "on the shelf", so why does the Finnish sentence use hyllyyn (into the shelf)?
In Finnish, verbs that involve placing, moving, or leaving things somewhere require a destination case (like "into" or "onto"), rather than a static location case ("in" or "on"). Because sorting the books involves placing them onto the shelf, the verb lajitella requires the illative case (hyllyyn).
What type of verb is lajitellaan?
It is the present passive form of lajitella (to sort). Lajitella is a Type 3 verb. To form the passive for Type 3 verbs, you simply take the basic dictionary form, lengthen the final vowel, and add -n: lajitella becomes lajitellaan.
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