Breakdown of Lähetti meni koko shakkilaudan läpi.
mennä
to go
koko
whole
lähetti
bishop
shakkilauta
chessboard
läpi
through
Questions & Answers about Lähetti meni koko shakkilaudan läpi.
Why does lähetti translate to bishop here? Doesn't it usually mean a messenger?
Yes! Outside of chess, lähetti means a messenger, courier, or delivery person. In Finnish chess terminology, the piece we call a bishop in English is simply called a messenger.
Since this lesson is about postpositions that take the partitive, why is shakkilaudan in the genitive case?
This is a great reminder that while you are learning partitive postpositions right now, the vast majority of Finnish postpositions require the genitive case. The word läpi (through) is one of these standard genitive postpositions, which is why we use shakkilaudan instead of the partitive shakkilautaa.
Why doesn't the word koko get a genitive ending to match shakkilaudan?
The word koko (whole, entire) is an indeclinable modifier. This means it is frozen and never changes its shape to match the noun it describes, no matter what case the noun is in.
What happens to the word lauta to make it laudan?
The base word for board is lauta. When you add the genitive ending -n to make it work with the postposition läpi, it triggers consonant gradation. The strong t weakens to a d, resulting in laudan.
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