Breakdown of Täällä elää niin lintuja kuin nisäkkäitäkin.
täällä
here
lintu
bird
kuin
than / before (in 'ennen kuin') / like / as
-kin
also / too (suffix)
elää
to live, to be alive
nisäkäs
mammal
niin
both (in 'niin ... kuin ... -kin')
Questions & Answers about Täällä elää niin lintuja kuin nisäkkäitäkin.
Why is the clitic -kin attached to nisäkkäitä?
It is a required part of the formal structure niin ... kuin ... -kin, which translates to "both ... and ..." or "as well as". The -kin (meaning "also" or "too") always attaches to the very last word of the second phrase, rounding off the correlative pair to reinforce that mammals are included alongside the birds.
The subjects are plural (birds and mammals), so why is the verb elää in the singular?
This is an existential sentence, which states that something exists or lives in a specific place. In Finnish, existential sentences always use a third-person singular verb, even if the subject is plural. Because the sentence introduces a location first (Täällä), the verb remains singular.
Why are the animals in the partitive plural (lintuja, nisäkkäitä) instead of the nominative plural?
In an existential sentence, when the subject is a plural countable noun of an undefined quantity (meaning "some birds" rather than "the birds"), it must be in the partitive plural. If you used the nominative plural (linnut, nisäkkäät), you would be talking about specific, previously mentioned animals, and the word order would usually flip.
What is the dictionary form of nisäkkäitä and how does it form this partitive plural?
The dictionary form is nisäkäs (mammal). Words ending in -as or -äs undergo reverse consonant gradation when taking most endings. The weak single k strengthens to a double kk, making the stem nisäkkää-. Adding the partitive plural marker -ita (which harmonizes to -itä) gives us nisäkkäitä.
Learn Täällä elää niin lintuja kuin nisäkkäitäkin 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