Breakdown of Haltia polvistukoon ja kirous murtukoon!
ja
and
kirous
curse
murtua
to break (intransitive)
haltia
elf (fantasy, nature spirit)
polvistua
to kneel
Questions & Answers about Haltia polvistukoon ja kirous murtukoon!
How do we form "polvistukoon" and "murtukoon", and what does the "-koon" ending mean?
These verbs are in the 3rd person imperative, sometimes called the jussive. To form it, take the infinitive stem of the verbs polvistua (to kneel) and murtua (to break), and add the suffix -koon (or -köön for vowel harmony). It expresses a command, wish, or allowance directed at a third party, translating nicely to "let [subject] do [action]" or "may [subject] do [action]".
Why are the subjects "haltia" and "kirous" in the nominative case here?
In 3rd person imperative sentences, the subject of the verb acts just like the subject in a normal statement, so it takes the standard nominative case. The command is directed at them indirectly, so "the elf" (haltia) and "the curse" (kirous) are simply the subjects doing the kneeling and breaking.
Why does the sentence use the verb "murtua" instead of "murtaa" for breaking the curse?
Murtua is an intransitive verb, meaning something breaks on its own. Murtaa is transitive, meaning someone breaks an object. Because the sentence says "let the curse break" rather than "let someone break the curse", we use the intransitive verb murtua.
I recognize "polvi" (knee) in "polvistukoon". How does that verb building work?
You spotted it! The noun polvi (knee) is turned into a verb using the suffix -stua, which usually means "to turn into" or "to get into a certain state". So polvistua literally means "to get onto one's knees", which we translate as "to kneel".
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