Breakdown of Aliravittu ja alipainoinen potilas tarvitsee hoitoa.
ja
and
tarvita
to need
hoito
treatment
potilas
the patient
alipainoinen
underweight
aliravittu
undernourished
Questions & Answers about Aliravittu ja alipainoinen potilas tarvitsee hoitoa.
How is the adjective aliravittu formed?
It combines the prefix ali- (under) with ravittu. The word ravittu is the passive past participle (the "has been done" form) of the verb ravita (to nourish). Combining prefixoids like ali- or yli- with participles is a very productive way to create new adjectives in Finnish.
Why does the sentence use alipainoinen instead of just alipaino?
alipaino is a noun meaning "underweight" (the condition itself). Because we are describing the patient, we need an adjective. Adding the highly common suffix -inen turns the noun into the adjective alipainoinen, meaning someone who has the quality of being underweight.
Why is the object hoitoa in the partitive case?
The verb tarvita (to need) takes a partitive object when the thing being needed is an uncountable mass noun or an abstract concept, which hoitoa (care or treatment) is here. If the patient needed a specific, countable thing (like a single pill), the object would be in the genitive-accusative case instead.
What type of verb is tarvitsee, and why does it have a -tse- in the middle?
It is the third-person singular present tense of tarvita (to need). This is a Type 5 verb (verbs ending in -ita or -itä). A key feature of Type 5 verbs is that they gain a -tse- stem in their present and past tense conjugations before the personal ending is added.
Learn Aliravittu ja alipainoinen potilas tarvitsee hoitoa and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free