Questions & Answers about Pankki antoi meille lainan.
Why is lainan in the genitive case (ending in -n) instead of the partitive lainaa?
Because it acts as a "total object." The bank gave a single, complete loan, and the action was fully completed. If the sentence used the partitive (lainaa), it would imply an ongoing, unfinished action or an unspecified amount.
Why is the recipient meille in the allative case (ending in -lle)?
The verb antaa (to give) requires the receiver to be in the allative case. While in English you just give something "to" someone, Finnish grammar thinks of giving as directing something "onto" someone.
How does the verb antaa turn into antoi in the past tense?
To form the past tense (imperfekti), we add the past tense marker -i to the verb stem. For verbs ending in -aa like antaa, the final -a of the stem (anta-) changes to an -o when the -i is added, making it antoi.
Is the word order strict here, or could I say Pankki antoi lainan meille?
You can say that, as Finnish word order is flexible! However, the standard, neutral word order places the recipient (meille) before the object (lainan). Moving meille to the very end puts more emphasis on it, sounding like "The bank gave the loan to us (and not to someone else)."