Word
Istumajärjestys on vaikea, mutta etimmäinen pöytä on kunniavieraille.
Meaning
The seating arrangement is difficult, but the frontmost table is for the guests of honor.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Istumajärjestys on vaikea, mutta etimmäinen pöytä on kunniavieraille.
olla
to be
mutta
but
pöytä
table
vaikea
difficult / hard
Questions & Answers about Istumajärjestys on vaikea, mutta etimmäinen pöytä on kunniavieraille.
How is the word etimmäinen formed in this sentence?
It is built from the positional stem ete- (which you also see in eteen and edessä) and the suffix -immäinen, which expresses an extreme position. This gives it the meaning 'frontmost'. Because the stem ete- contains only the neutral vowel e, it takes the front-vowel version of the suffix (-immäinen instead of -immainen).
Why is the allative case (-lle) used for kunniavieraille?
The allative case here expresses who the table is intended for. While English uses the preposition 'for' to say 'for the guests of honor', Finnish attaches the -lle suffix directly to the plural stem of the noun.
What are the step-by-step stem changes from vieras to vieraille?
For words ending in -as, the basic stem replaces the final s with a long vowel, making it vieraa-. To make it plural, we add -i-, which changes the long -aa- into the diphthong -ai-. Finally, adding the allative ending -lle gives us vieraille.
How do the parts of istumajärjestys break down?