Breakdown of Pormestari ja valtuusto istuvat vierekkäin.
ja
and
istua
to sit
vierekkäin
next to each other
valtuusto
council
pormestari
mayor
Questions & Answers about Pormestari ja valtuusto istuvat vierekkäin.
How would we apply this lesson's grammar (the negative passive potential) to say 'People probably aren't sitting side by side'?
You would use the passive stem of istua (to sit), which is istutta-, and add the potential marker -ne. Together with the negative verb, it becomes ei istuttane. The full phrase would be Vierekkäin ei istuttane.
What does the -kkäin suffix in vierekkäin do?
The -kkäin or -kkain suffix expresses a reciprocal or mutual relationship in space. It attaches to spatial roots like vieri- (side) to mean 'side by side'. You will also see it in common B2 vocabulary like vastakkain (face to face / opposite each other) and peräkkäin (in a row / one after the other).
Valtuusto (council) represents many people, but is grammatically singular. Would it take a singular or plural verb on its own?
In Finnish, collective nouns take singular verbs. So 'The council sits' would simply be Valtuusto istuu. However, in our sentence, the verb is plural (istuvat) because the subject is compounded with ja (and): the mayor AND the council makes two grammatical entities.
How does the ending of valtuusto give a clue to its meaning?
The -sto / -stö suffix creates collective nouns from other words. Here it relates to words like valta (power) or valtuutettu (delegate). Just like a collection of kirja (books) is a kirjasto (library), a collection of delegates is a valtuusto (council).
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