Breakdown of Oletko valmis lisäämään viisi ruokalusikallista jauhoja?
olla
to be
valmis
ready
viisi
five
lisätä
to add
jauho
flour
ruokalusikallinen
tablespoonful
Questions & Answers about Oletko valmis lisäämään viisi ruokalusikallista jauhoja?
Why is the verb lisäämään in the -mään form here instead of the basic infinitive lisätä?
The adjective valmis (ready) has a specific rection (government rules): it requires the attached verb to be in the illative form of the third infinitive (the -maan / -mään form). In Finnish, you aren't ready to do something, you are ready into doing it.
How does the word ruokalusikallista break down?
The base word is ruokalusikka (tablespoon). Adding the suffix -llinen creates ruokalusikallinen, meaning a "tablespoonful" or the physical amount that fits in the spoon. Because it follows the number viisi (five), it must be put into the partitive singular form, resulting in ruokalusikallista.
Why doesn't the number viisi (five) take an object ending (like viiden) since it's the object of the action?
When a basic number greater than one is the total object of an affirmative sentence, the number itself stays in its basic (nominative) form. It then forces the noun it modifies into the partitive singular. Therefore, the object phrase correctly stays as viisi ruokalusikallista.
Why is jauhoja (flour) in the partitive plural rather than partitive singular?
While many uncountable mass nouns take the partitive singular after a measure word (for example, lasi vettä for "a glass of water"), the word for flour (jauho) is conventionally used in the plural in Finnish (jauhot). Following the measure word, it naturally takes the partitive plural form jauhoja.
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