Word
Voitko auttaa minua? Haluan laskea tämän jakolaskun.
Meaning
Can you help me? I want to calculate this division.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Voitko auttaa minua? Haluan laskea tämän jakolaskun.
tämä
this
minä
I
auttaa
to help
haluta
to want
Questions & Answers about Voitko auttaa minua? Haluan laskea tämän jakolaskun.
Why is it minua (partitive) and not some other case like minut?
The verb auttaa (to help) is a partitive verb. In Finnish, whenever you help someone, the person being helped must always be in the partitive case. That is why we use minua instead of a total object case like minut.
Why does tämän jakolaskun end in -n instead of being in the partitive case?
Here, the object is in the genitive-looking accusative case, also called the total object. This shows that you intend to calculate the division completely to get the final answer. If you used the partitive (tätä jakolaskua), it would imply an incomplete action, like just doing some of the math without finishing it.
How is the word jakolasku (division) formed?
It is a compound word made of jako (division or sharing, from the verb jakaa) and lasku (calculation, from the verb laskea). Finnish uses lasku to build many math terms, such as yhteenlasku (addition) and vähennyslasku (subtraction).
Does laskea only mean "to calculate"?
No, laskea is a very versatile verb. Besides "to calculate" or "to count", it can also mean "to lower" (like lowering a price or your hands) or "to let down or let go" (like letting a dog off a leash).