Breakdown of Nunna pidättäytyy ruoasta tiukan paaston takia.
ruoka
food
tiukka
strict / tight
takia
because of
nunna
nun
pidättäytyä
to abstain
paasto
fasting
Questions & Answers about Nunna pidättäytyy ruoasta tiukan paaston takia.
Why is ruoasta in the elative (-sta) case here?
The verb pidättäytyä (to abstain) belongs to the group of verbs expressing refusing, declining, or staying away from something. These verbs require the noun they connect with to be in the elative case. Just as you abstain "from" something in English, Finnish uses the out-of/from case here.
How does the word ruoka (food) become ruoasta?
This is an example of consonant gradation. When adding the closed syllable ending -sta, the strong grade k in ruoka drops out completely to form the weak stem ruoa-. This is the same pattern you see in the genitive form ruoan.
The phrase is tiukan paaston takia. Why are both tiukka and paasto in the genitive case?
The word takia (because of) is a postposition. In Finnish, most postpositions require the word immediately before them to be in the genitive case (-n). Because of case agreement, any adjectives describing that noun, like tiukka (strict), must also match and take the genitive ending.
The verb pidättäytyä looks like a complex derivation. Is it related to the basic verb pitää?
Yes, it is a chain of derivations! Pitää means to hold. Adding a causative suffix gives us pidättää (to hold back, to arrest). Finally, the -ytyä suffix makes it reflexive, so pidättäytyä literally means to hold oneself back, which is exactly what it means to abstain.
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