Questions & Answers about Pesässä asuu vain yksi kuningatar.
Why is the verb asuu in the singular form here?
The subject is yksi kuningatar (one queen). Because it is exactly one, the verb is naturally in the singular third-person form asuu. However, keep in mind for this lesson that even if there were multiple queens, like kaksi kuningatarta (two queens), the verb would still be the singular asuu. In Finnish, subjects starting with a number take a singular verb.
Why is the subject yksi kuningatar at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?
This is an existential sentence, which states that something exists or happens somewhere. In Finnish, these sentences usually start with the location (pesässä), followed by the verb (asuu), and end with the subject (yksi kuningatar). Translating it word-for-word gives "In the nest lives only one queen."
Why is kuningatar in the basic form (nominative) instead of the partitive case?
The number yksi (one) is special. Both yksi and its noun stay in the basic nominative form when acting as the subject. If the number was two or higher, the noun would change to the partitive case (for example, kaksi kuningatarta).
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