Questions & Answers about Mä pelaan sua vastaan.
Why is the word for "you" in the partitive case (sua) in this sentence?
It is because of the postposition vastaan (against). In Finnish, certain postpositions always require the word that comes right before them to be in the partitive case.
Wait, what exactly is sua? I only know sinua.
sua is simply the very common spoken or colloquial form of sinua (the partitive of sinä). You will also notice mä instead of the standard minä at the beginning of the sentence.
Could I change the word order and say mä pelaan vastaan sua?
No, because vastaan is a postposition. Just like an English preposition comes before a word, a Finnish postposition must come after the word it applies to.
The verb pelata (to play) often requires the partitive case. Is that affecting sua here?
No, it is a coincidence. While you do use the partitive for the game you are playing (like pelaan tennistä), in this specific sentence, sua is strictly governed by the postposition vastaan. If you added a game, it would look like this: Mä pelaan tennistä sua vastaan.
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