Breakdown of Munkit kieltäytyvät maallisista nautinnoista.
kieltäytyä
to refuse
munkki
monk
maallinen
worldly
nautinto
pleasure
Questions & Answers about Munkit kieltäytyvät maallisista nautinnoista.
Why are worldly pleasures in the elative case (-sta/-stä) here?
The verb kieltäytyä (to refuse or decline) is a rection verb that requires the elative case for the thing being refused. You can think of it as withdrawing yourself out of or from something. Because the pleasures are plural, both the adjective maallinen and the noun nautinto take the plural elative ending -ista.
How does kieltäytyä relate to the basic verb kieltää?
Kieltää means to deny or to forbid someone else from doing something. The -tyä ending in kieltäytyä makes it a reflexive verb, meaning the action reflects back on the subject. Forbidding yourself from taking something translates to refusing or declining.
Why does the nt in nautinto change to nn in nautinnoista?
The noun nautinto (pleasure) undergoes consonant gradation. The strong consonant cluster nt weakens to nn when the following syllable is closed. To form the plural elative, we take the weak stem nautinno-, add the plural marker i, and then the elative ending -sta, giving us nautinnoista.
Is munkki the exact same word used for a Finnish doughnut?
Yes, munkki is a homonym meaning both monk and doughnut. Traditional Finnish doughnuts are round and brown, supposedly resembling a monk's habit. In this sentence, the context of refusing worldly pleasures clearly tells us it means monks!
How is the adjective maallisista formed?
The root is the noun maa (earth). Adding the suffix -llinen gives maallinen (worldly or secular). Words ending in -nen change that ending to -s- before plural case endings. Here, we add the plural i and the elative -ta to the stem, producing maallisista to match its noun.
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