Questions & Answers about Nämä ovat uudet perilliset.
Since this lesson is about kenen (whose), how would I ask "Whose new heirs are these?"
You would simply put kenen at the start of the sentence: Kenen uudet perilliset nämä ovat? Notice that kenen is in the genitive case, but the rest of the sentence (uudet perilliset nämä ovat) stays in the nominative plural exactly as it appears in this example.
Why do we use nämä instead of tämä?
In English, we say "these are" instead of "this is" when referring to plurals. Finnish does the exact same thing! Demonstrative pronouns must agree in number with the noun. Because perilliset (heirs) is plural, tämä (this) becomes its plural form nämä (these).
What is the base form of uudet and why does it look so different?
The dictionary form is uusi (new). Words ending in -si usually change to an -te- stem before adding endings. When you add the plural marker -t, consonant gradation kicks in and softens the strong -t- in the stem to a weak -d-, resulting in uudet.
How do you form the plural for perillinen to get perilliset?
For Finnish words ending in -nen (which often denote types of people or adjectives), you drop the -nen and replace it with -se- to find the stem. Then, simply add the standard plural -t at the end. So, perillinen becomes perillise- + -t = perilliset.
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