Breakdown of Suomalaiset syövät ruisleipää joka päivä.
suomalainen
Finnish / Finn
päivä
day
syödä
to eat
ruisleipä
rye bread
Questions & Answers about Suomalaiset syövät ruisleipää joka päivä.
Why is ruisleipää in the partitive case here?
Because bread is an uncountable mass noun. Eating an unspecified amount of it ("some rye bread") requires the partitive case. If they were eating a whole, specific loaf of rye bread, the accusative case would be used instead (ruisleivän).
Why is the subject Suomalaiset in the nominative plural rather than the partitive plural (Suomalaisia)?
Using the nominative plural Suomalaiset makes this a general statement about Finns as a whole group. If you used the partitive plural to mean "some Finns", the verb would also have to change to the singular form: Suomalaisia syö...
Why doesn't the time expression joka päivä take a case ending, like päivänä?
The word joka (meaning "every" here) is a special pronoun that does not decline. When used to say "every [time period]" (like joka viikko or joka kuukausi), the noun that follows it also stays in the basic nominative form.
Why doesn't the p in leipää undergo consonant gradation to a v?
Consonant gradation (like p changing to v) generally happens when a case ending adds a consonant that "closes" the syllable, like the -n in the genitive leivän. Because the partitive ending -ä is just a vowel, the syllable stays open (lei-pää) and keeps the strong p.
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