Questions & Answers about Pojat kujeilivat meidän kuulemattamme.
How exactly does meidän kuulemattamme mean "without us hearing"?
This uses the 3rd infinitive abessive, which expresses an unperformed action. You take the vowel stem of the verb kuulla (which is kuule-), add -matta (meaning "without doing"), and then attach the possessive suffix -mme to match the genitive subject meidän.
Can I drop the word meidän and just say Pojat kujeilivat kuulemattamme?
Yes, you can. In Finnish, first and second-person pronouns like meidän can usually be omitted because the possessive suffix (here, -mme) already makes it perfectly clear who is not doing the action.
How would I say this using ilman että instead of this infinitive structure?
You would say Pojat kujeilivat ilman että me kuulimme. At a B2 level, it is very useful to know both versions. The phrase ilman että is very common in everyday speech, while the -matta/-mättä structure with a possessive suffix sounds a bit more elegant and compact.
The verb kujeilivat comes from the noun kuje. How does that verb ending work?
The verb kujeilla is formed by adding the frequentative suffix -illa to the noun kuje (a trick or prank). This suffix turns the noun into a verb that implies doing something repeatedly or continuously, meaning "to play tricks" or "to fool around".