Breakdown of Maanmittari seisoo kymmenen metrin päässä tontin rajasta.
seisoa
to stand
kymmenen
ten
raja
border / limit
metri
the meter
maanmittari
the land surveyor
päässä
at a distance of
tontti
the plot
Questions & Answers about Maanmittari seisoo kymmenen metrin päässä tontin rajasta.
How does the grammar of kymmenen metrin päässä work in this sentence?
This is the classic structure for expressing static distance. The distance itself goes into the genitive case (kymmenen metrin), followed by the postposition päässä. We use päässä (rather than päästä) because the surveyor is stationary (seisoo).
Since numbers usually require the partitive case (like kymmenen metriä), why is it kymmenen metrin here?
When a number phrase acts as the subject or object, it takes the partitive. However, postpositions like päässä require the word or words in front of them to be in the genitive. Therefore, both the number and the noun must snap into the genitive: kymmenen (genitive of kymmenen) and metrin (genitive of metri).
Why is the word for boundary in the elative case (rajasta)?
When expressing distance from a reference point using the postposition päässä, Finnish requires the elative case (-sta or -stä) for that reference point. So, from the boundary translates to rajasta, indicating exactly where the ten-meter gap starts.
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