Breakdown of Tässä keitossa on valkosipulia, pippuria ja suolaa.
tämä
this
olla
to be
ja
and
suola
salt
keitto
soup
valkosipuli
garlic
pippuri
pepper
Questions & Answers about Tässä keitossa on valkosipulia, pippuria ja suolaa.
Why is the verb on in the singular even though there are three different ingredients listed?
This is an existential sentence (a sentence stating that something exists in a specific location, starting here with the location tässä keitossa). In Finnish, the verb in an existential sentence is always in the third-person singular (on), regardless of how many subjects follow it.
Why are the ingredients valkosipulia, pippuria, and suolaa all in the partitive case?
They are uncountable mass nouns functioning as the subject of an existential sentence. The partitive case is used here to indicate an unspecified amount, meaning there is 'some' garlic, pepper, and salt in the soup.
Does the pronoun tämä (this) always change to match the noun it modifies like it does in tässä keitossa?
Yes! In Finnish, modifiers almost always agree in case with their head noun. Because the soup is in the inessive case (keitossa), meaning 'inside the soup', the word tämä must also take the inessive form, becoming tässä.
Why is there a single 't' in keitossa when the base word is keitto?
This is a classic example of consonant gradation that you might need a quick refresher on. Adding the inessive case ending -ssa closes the final syllable of the word. This closed syllable triggers the strong grade 'tt' in keitto to weaken into the soft grade 't', resulting in keitossa.
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