Breakdown of Käskettekö näyttelijää siirtämään tuon lavasteen?
tuo
that
siirtää
to move
näyttelijä
the actor
käskeä
to command (tell someone to do something)
lavaste
set piece
Questions & Answers about Käskettekö näyttelijää siirtämään tuon lavasteen?
Why is näyttelijää in the partitive case here?
With verbs of ordering, requesting, or advising (like käskeä, pyytää, and neuvoa), the person you are directing the command to must be in the partitive case. You can think of it as giving an order towards the actor.
Why do we use the -mään form (siirtämään) instead of the basic dictionary form (siirtää) for 'to move'?
In Finnish, the main verb dictates the form of the verb that follows it. Verbs like käskeä require the next verb to be in the 3rd infinitive illative form, which ends in -maan or -mään. You are essentially ordering someone into doing an action.
If näyttelijää is the object of the ordering, why is tuon lavasteen in the genitive-looking accusative case?
The phrase tuon lavasteen is the direct object of the verb siirtämään (to move), not the main verb käskeä. Because moving the set piece is a complete action, its object takes the total object case (accusative). For singular nouns, this looks exactly like the genitive, ending in -n.
What is the dictionary form of lavasteen?
The base form is lavaste (a set piece or scenery). For Finnish nouns ending in -e, you must double that final vowel before adding the -n ending for the genitive or accusative cases, which results in lavasteen.
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