Breakdown of Ovatko nämä esineet sekä virheettömiä että aitoja?
olla
to be
nämä
these
että
that (conjunction)
esine
object
sekä
both
aito
genuine
virheetön
flawless
Questions & Answers about Ovatko nämä esineet sekä virheettömiä että aitoja?
Why are virheettömiä and aitoja in the partitive plural when the subject nämä esineet is in the nominative plural?
In Finnish, when the subject is a plural countable noun (like nämä esineet), the predicative adjective describing it must be in the partitive plural. If the subject were singular, the adjective would be in the nominative singular (for example: Onko tämä esine aito?).
How does the word virheettömiä break down?
It is built from the noun virhe (mistake or flaw) and the suffix -tön (meaning 'without'), creating the adjective virheetön (flawless). When inflected into the partitive plural, the -tön ending changes to its strong stem -ttömi- before the partitive ending -ä is attached.
What role does sekä ... että play in this sentence?
This is a fixed paired conjunction meaning 'both ... and'. It always links two grammatically equal parts of a sentence. In this case, it pairs the two partitive plural adjectives, emphasizing that the items possess both qualities simultaneously.
How might this sentence connect to the lesson's topic of jollainen (the kind of which)?
While jollainen isn't in the question itself, this sentence perfectly sets up a situation where it would be used in the reply! For example, you might answer: Ne ovat juuri sellaisia, jollaisia haluan (They are exactly the kind that I want). Here, jollaisia is in the partitive plural, following the exact same grammar rule as virheettömiä and aitoja.
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