Breakdown of Me kävelemme molemmissa: koivukossa ja männikössä.
ja
and
me
we
kävellä
to walk
molemmat
both (of them)
koivukko
birch grove
männikkö
pine grove
Questions & Answers about Me kävelemme molemmissa: koivukossa ja männikössä.
How does the suffix -kko work in koivukossa?
The suffix -kko / -kkö is used to form a noun indicating a cluster, group, or collection of things. By attaching it to koivu (birch), you get koivukko, meaning a birch grove or a cluster of birch trees. The -ssa at the end is just the standard inessive case ending meaning 'in'.
The word for pine is mänty. Why does its stem change so much to become männikkö?
Two things happen to the stem when adding this suffix. First, consonant gradation changes the strong nt to a weak nn because the suffix closes the syllable. Second, the final y in mänty shifts to an i, which is a common shift in noun derivation. Finally, vowel harmony requires the front-vowel version of the suffix, which is -kkö.
Both koivukossa and männikössä are in the singular. Why does molemmissa (in both) take a plural ending?
The word molemmat (both) is inherently plural in Finnish. Even though it refers to two separate singular nouns in this sentence, it must take plural case endings itself. To match the inessive case ('in') of the groves, it takes the plural inessive ending -issa, becoming molemmissa.
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