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Questions & Answers about Syön puuroa lusikalla.
Why is puuroa in the partitive case?
The word puuro (porridge) is an uncountable mass noun. When you are eating an unspecified amount of a mass noun, or if the action is ongoing, the object must be in the partitive case.
If I changed it to Syön puuron lusikalla, what would it mean?
Using the total object puuron changes the sentence to focus on a completed action in the future. It would mean 'I will eat the entire portion of porridge with a spoon.'
The ending -lla normally means 'on top of', so why does lusikalla mean 'with a spoon'?
In Finnish, the adessive case ending -lla or -llä is also used to indicate the instrument or tool used to perform an action. In this context, it translates to 'by means of' or 'with'.
Why is there only one k in lusikalla when the dictionary word is lusikka?
This is due to consonant gradation. Adding the -lla ending closes the final syllable of the word. This closed syllable causes the strong consonant grade kk to weaken into a single k.