Breakdown of Maanomistaja huusi meille kahdenkymmenen metrin päästä.
me
we
kaksikymmentä
twenty
huutaa
to shout
metri
the meter
Questions & Answers about Maanomistaja huusi meille kahdenkymmenen metrin päästä.
Why does the sentence use päästä (from) instead of päässä (in/at), even though the landowner was standing still?
In Finnish, verbs involving sound, sight, or communication (like huutaa, to shout) often take directional cases. The shout traveled from twenty meters away to the listener. Because the sound originates at that distance and moves towards you, Finnish requires the elative postposition päästä rather than the static päässä.
Why do both parts of the number change in kahdenkymmenen?
The postposition päästä requires the preceding measurement phrase to be in the genitive case. For numbers from 11 to 99, both parts of the compound number must inflect. Therefore, kaksi becomes its genitive form kahden, and kymmentä becomes the genitive kymmenen.
Could I use the partitive meitä instead of the allative meille for "us"?
Using meille (to us) implies the landowner was directing his voice at us. If you used the partitive meitä, it would become the direct object of the verb. This changes the meaning entirely, implying he was shouting about us or shouting our names out loud, rather than just communicating in our direction.
How is the word maanomistaja formed?