Breakdown of Kenen piti tapetoida tuo pimeä nurkka?
tuo
that
kuka
who
pimeä
dark
pitää
must / have to
tapetoida
to wallpaper
nurkka
the corner
Questions & Answers about Kenen piti tapetoida tuo pimeä nurkka?
How would we change this sentence to mean "Who got that dark corner wallpapered?" using this lesson's construction?
You would say Kuka sai tuon pimeän nurkan tapetoiduksi?. Notice how the subject changes from the genitive kenen back to the nominative kuka, the object changes to the genitive-looking accusative tuon pimeän nurkan, and we use sai plus the passive past participle in the translative case, tapetoiduksi.
Why is the object tuo pimeä nurkka in the nominative case instead of the genitive-like accusative tuon pimeän nurkan?
Because it is the object of a necessity verb (piti). When a sentence uses a necessity structure like pitää or täytyä, a total object takes the nominative case rather than the standard genitive/accusative form.
Why does the sentence start with kenen instead of kuka?
Necessity verbs like pitää require their logical subject to be in the genitive case. So, "who was supposed to" translates structurally to "for whom was it necessary to", making the nominative kuka become the genitive kenen.
What verb type is tapetoida, and why is it in its dictionary form here?
It is a Type 2 verb. It stays in its basic A-infinitive form here because it acts as the main action verb attached to the necessity verb piti. Since piti is already conjugated in the past tense, the following verb remains unconjugated.
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