Breakdown of Kalat syövät kasveja, kuten vihreää levää.
syödä
to eat
kala
fish
vihreä
green
kuten
like, as
kasvi
plant
levä
algae
Questions & Answers about Kalat syövät kasveja, kuten vihreää levää.
Why are the words vihreää levää in the partitive case here?
This is a key rule when using kuten (such as). The connector kuten doesn't force a specific case of its own; instead, the examples that follow it must match the case of the broader category they belong to. Because the category kasveja (plants) is in the partitive, the example vihreää levää must also be in the partitive.
Why is kasveja in the partitive case in the first place?
The verb syödä (to eat) takes a partitive object when the action applies to an indefinite amount. The fish are eating an unspecified quantity of plants ("some plants"), not a specific, defined set of plants, which would require the accusative.
If kasveja is plural, why is the example vihreää levää in the singular?
Even though they are matched in case (partitive), they don't have to match in number. Kasvi (plant) is a countable noun, so it takes the plural here. However, levä (algae) is usually treated as an uncountable mass noun in Finnish. Therefore, it stays in the singular partitive, just like words for substances such as water (vettä) or sand (hiekkaa).
Could I use esimerkiksi instead of kuten in this sentence?
Yes, you could say ...kasveja, esimerkiksi vihreää levää. The grammar and the core meaning would remain exactly the same. Kuten (such as) creates a slightly tighter, more direct equivalence between the category and the example, while esimerkiksi (for example) draws a bit more attention to the fact that you are simply naming one option out of many.
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