Questions & Answers about Tuolla pedolla on lyhin häntä.
How do we get lyhin from the basic adjective lyhyt (short)?
The adjective lyhyt is irregular. To form the superlative (shortest), the word changes significantly, dropping the -yt and adding -in to the stem to make lyhin. Its comparative form (shorter) is also irregular: lyhyempi.
Why do the words tuo and peto have the -lla ending here?
This is the classic Finnish "to have" construction. Because Finnish doesn't have a direct verb for "to have", you put the owner in the adessive case (the -lla or -llä ending) followed by the verb on (is). Literally, this says "On that beast is the shortest tail."
The basic word for beast is peto, so why does it have a d in pedolla?
This happens because of consonant gradation. Adding the -lla ending closes the final syllable of the word. This forces the strong consonant t in peto to weaken into a d in pedolla.
Wait, isn't häntä the partitive form of the pronoun hän (he/she)?
It is! But in this sentence, häntä is actually the basic (nominative) form of a completely different noun meaning "tail". They just happen to look exactly the same. You have to rely on context to tell them apart, and here, a beast having a tail makes perfect sense.
Learn Tuolla pedolla on lyhin häntä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free