Breakdown of Vihaan imuroimista, vaikka rakastan sienestämistä.
rakastaa
to love
vaikka
although / even though
vihata
to hate
imuroida
to vacuum
sienestää
to pick mushrooms
Questions & Answers about Vihaan imuroimista, vaikka rakastan sienestämistä.
Why do both actions end in -mista/-mistä instead of just being basic verbs?
Emotion verbs like vihata (to hate) and rakastaa (to love) require their object to be in the partitive case. When the object of these verbs is an action, you cannot use the basic verb form. Instead, you turn the verb into a noun using the -minen ending (4th infinitive), and then put that noun into the partitive case: -mista or -mistä.
Could I just say Vihaan imuroida and rakastan sienestää?
In casual spoken Finnish, you will sometimes hear people use the basic verb form (1st infinitive) with these verbs. However, grammatically, verbs like rakastaa and vihata strongly prefer the -mista/-mistä form when talking about activities. Using the 4th infinitive partitive sounds much more natural and is the standard way to express this.
How is the word sienestämistä built?
It is a great example of Finnish word derivation! It starts with the noun sieni (mushroom). Adding the verb suffix -stää creates the verb sienestää (to pick mushrooms). To use it as the object of rakastaa, it gets turned into the activity noun sienestäminen, and finally takes the partitive ending to become sienestämistä.
Why does imuroimista end in -a but sienestämistä ends in -ä?
This is a quick reminder of vowel harmony. The root of imuroimista contains the back vowels u and o, so it must take the back vowel ending -a. The root of sienestämistä only contains the front vowels i, e, and ä (remember that i and e are neutral but act as front vowels when no back vowels are present), so it requires the front vowel ending -ä.
Learn Vihaan imuroimista, vaikka rakastan sienestämistä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free