Learn Finnish: Osake maksaa kaksikymmentä dollaria.

Osake maksaa kaksikymmentä dollaria.

The share costs twenty dollars.

Breakdown of Osake maksaa kaksikymmentä dollaria.

Questions & Answers about Osake maksaa kaksikymmentä dollaria.

Why is dollaria in the partitive singular instead of the plural?

In Finnish, numbers greater than one require the following noun to be in the partitive singular, not the plural. That is why we use dollaria instead of the plural dollareita.

How would I apply this lesson's grammar to say 'The share probably costs twenty dollars'?

You would use the epistemic modal verb taitaa (to probably be/do) and put the main verb into its basic dictionary form (first infinitive): Osake taitaa maksaa kaksikymmentä dollaria.

I remember maksaa meaning 'to pay'. Why does it mean 'costs' here?

The verb maksaa means both 'to pay' and 'to cost'. You can tell them apart by the subject: an inanimate object like osake (a share) cannot actively pay for things, so it must mean 'costs'. If the subject were a person, it would typically mean 'pays'.

If the number twenty forces dollaria into the partitive case, what case is kaksikymmentä in?

It is in its basic nominative form here. When expressing a measure or an amount something costs, the number itself stays in the nominative, while the noun it quantifies is put into the partitive singular.