Breakdown of Onnittelitko häntä tästä hienosta puheesta?
tämä
this
hän
he / she
hieno
great
onnitella
to congratulate
puhe
speech
Questions & Answers about Onnittelitko häntä tästä hienosta puheesta?
Why are all three words in tästä hienosta puheesta in the elative case?
This is the main rule for this lesson! The verb onnitella (to congratulate) requires the thing you are congratulating someone for to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Since modifiers must agree with their noun in Finnish, tämä (this) and hieno (fine) also take the elative ending to match puheesta.
Why is the word for 'him' in the partitive case (häntä)?
The verb onnitella is a partitive verb. This means that the person you are congratulating (the direct object of the action) must always be in the partitive case.
How is the verb Onnittelitko built?
It starts with the verb onnitella. Its basic stem is onnittele-. To make the past tense, the -e- changes to -i-, giving onnitteli-. Then we add the 'you' ending -t to make onnittelit (you congratulated). Finally, adding the question particle -ko turns it into a yes/no question.
Why does the word puhe (speech) get an extra 'e' in puheesta?
Puhe belongs to a specific group of Finnish words that end in -e. When you add a grammatical ending to these words, the final -e doubles to make the stem. So the stem is puhee-, and adding the elative ending gives us puheesta.
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