Question 1

Why is "to walk" translated as kävelemään instead of its basic form kävellä?

Accepted Answer

The verb pystyä (to be capable of) requires the action verb that follows it to be in the 3rd infinitive illative form, which ends in -maan or -mään. Because kävellä is the action she is capable of, it must take the -mään ending here.

Question 2

Could I use the more common verb voida (can / to be able to) instead of pystyä here?

Accepted Answer

You could say voi kävellä, but pystyy kävelemään is more precise here. Pystyä specifically emphasizes having the physical or mental capability to do something. Voida is broader and often just means having the general possibility or permission to do it. Also, notice that voida would require the basic infinitive (kävellä), while pystyä requires the -mään form.

Question 3

Why is the word for threshold (kynnys) in the partitive case (kynnystä)?

Accepted Answer

The clause kadulla ei ole kynnystä is a negative existential sentence ("there is no threshold on the street"). In Finnish, when you are stating that a noun does not exist in a location, that absent noun must be put into the partitive case.

Question 4

I know the word for "street" is katu. Why is it spelled kadulla with a "d" here?

Accepted Answer

This is due to consonant gradation. Adding the location ending -lla (on / at) creates a closed syllable at the end of the word. This triggers a consonant change where the strong consonant t softens to the weak consonant d.

Sokea nainen pystyy kävelemään yksin, koska kadulla ei ole kynnystä.

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