Breakdown of Vartijat ovat valmiita suojaamaan rakennuksen.
olla
to be
valmis
ready
suojata
to protect
rakennus
the building
vartija
guard
Questions & Answers about Vartijat ovat valmiita suojaamaan rakennuksen.
Why do we use the form suojaamaan instead of the basic infinitive suojata?
The adjective valmis (ready) requires the 3rd infinitive in the illative case, which ends in -maan or -mään. In Finnish, you are ready "into doing" something. Therefore, we use suojaamaan.
Why is valmiita in the partitive plural here?
Because the subject vartijat (the guards) is a plural noun, the predicative adjective describing them must also be plural. For groups of people or countable things, the partitive plural (valmiita) is the standard case used to say what they are like.
How do we find the stem to add -maan to for suojata?
suojata is a type 4 verb. To form the 3rd infinitive, you use the strong vowel stem. The easiest way to find this is to look at the 3rd person singular form (hän suojaa). Just add -maan to that stem, giving you suojaamaan.
Why is the object rakennuksen in the genitive-like accusative case rather than the partitive?
Using the total object rakennuksen implies that the guards are prepared to protect the entire building as a whole. If the partitive rakennusta were used, it would sound like they are protecting just a part of it, or that the protecting is an indefinite action.
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