Questions & Answers about Tämä on yksi tärkeimmistä ainesosista.
Why do we use the elative endings (-stä and -sta) here instead of the partitive for "of the"?
In English we say "one OF the ingredients", which often makes learners want to use the partitive case. However, in Finnish, when expressing "one out of a specific group", you must use the elative case (-sta/-stä), which literally means "out of". Both the superlative adjective (tärkeimmistä) and the noun (ainesosista) must take this plural elative ending to match.
How is the superlative word tärkeimmistä formed from the basic adjective tärkeä (important)?
The superlative "most important" in its basic "dictionary" form is tärkein. To add plural and case endings, you use its plural stem tärkeimpi-. Because the elative ending -stä closes the final syllable, the -mp- undergoes consonant gradation and weakens to -mm-. You then add -stä to get tärkeimmistä.
Why does tärkeimmistä have the -stä ending while ainesosista has the -sta ending?