Breakdown of Hyökkäämme vastustajan kuningasta kohti.
kuningas
king
kohti
towards
hyökätä
to attack
vastustaja
opponent
Questions & Answers about Hyökkäämme vastustajan kuningasta kohti.
Why is kuningasta in the partitive case here? I thought postpositions usually require the genitive case.
You are right that most postpositions in Finnish take the genitive case. However, this lesson introduces a special group of postpositions that require the partitive case instead. The word kohti (towards) is one of them, which is why it forces the noun it attaches to into the partitive form (kuningasta).
Can I say kohti kuningasta instead of kuningasta kohti?
Yes, you can! The word kohti is quite flexible and can act as either a postposition (after the noun) or a preposition (before the noun). Both kuningasta kohti and kohti kuningasta are perfectly correct and mean exactly the same thing.
What is the basic dictionary form of kuningasta and how does it become partitive?
The dictionary form is kuningas (king). For old Finnish words ending in -as or -es, forming the partitive is very straightforward: you just add the ending -ta or -tä directly to the basic form, with no stem changes needed.
Why does hyökkäämme have a double kk when the dictionary form hyökätä only has one?
The verb hyökätä (to attack) is a Type 4 verb. In Type 4 verbs, consonant gradation works in reverse compared to Type 1 verbs. The dictionary form has the weak grade (a single k), but when you build the stem to conjugate it, it flips to the strong grade (the double kk).
Why doesn't vastustajan match the partitive case of kuningasta?