Breakdown of Osa jäsenistä tukee uutta puheenjohtajaa.
uusi
new
tukea
to support
osa
the part
jäsen
the member
Questions & Answers about Osa jäsenistä tukee uutta puheenjohtajaa.
Why is jäsenistä in the elative case (ending in -stä) here?
The word osa (a part or some) acts as a quantifier here. In Finnish, to express a subset like "some of a group" or "a part of a whole", you put the group in the elative case. So, jäsenistä literally means "out of the members".
Since we are talking about multiple members, why is the verb tukee in the singular rather than the plural tukevat?
The grammatical subject of the sentence is actually the singular word osa, not the members themselves. Because osa is grammatically singular, the verb must also be in the singular form tukee.
Why are uutta and puheenjohtajaa in the partitive case?
The verb tukea (to support) is a partitive verb. This means it always requires its object to be in the partitive case, regardless of whether the action is ongoing or complete. Both the noun puheenjohtajaa and its adjective uutta must take the partitive ending.
How does the base word jäsen (member) change into jäsenistä?