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Questions & Answers about Kahvin kanssa syödään pullaa.
Why is kahvin kanssa at the beginning of the sentence?
Finnish word order is quite flexible, and the topic or context usually comes first. By starting with kahvin kanssa, the sentence emphasizes that we are talking about what happens when having coffee. This is a very common way to structure general statements in Finnish.
Why is the word for coffee in the genitive case (kahvin)?
The word kanssa (with) is a postposition. In Finnish, most postpositions require the noun before them to be in the genitive case. Therefore, the basic form kahvi changes to kahvin.
Why use the passive verb syödään instead of an active verb?
The Finnish passive is frequently used to describe what people do in general, without naming a specific person. In English, this translates to "people eat", "one eats", or "is eaten". It is the perfect choice for stating a general cultural habit.
Shouldn't the object of a passive sentence be in the nominative case? Why is it pullaa (partitive)?
It is a great rule to remember that passive verbs usually take a nominative object. However, the partitive rule overrides that if the object is an uncountable mass noun or an indefinite amount. Because the sentence refers to eating some amount of sweet bun in general, rather than one specific, entire bun, pulla must be in the partitive case (pullaa).