Breakdown of Käykää syömässä katuruokaa yhdessä!
syödä
to eat
yhdessä
together
käydä
to visit, to go (and come back)
katuruoka
street food
Questions & Answers about Käykää syömässä katuruokaa yhdessä!
Why does this sentence use syömässä (inessive) instead of syömään (illative) to say 'go eat'?
This is because of the verb käydä. While most verbs of motion (like mennä, to go) require the 3rd infinitive in the illative case (such as syömään), käydä specifically requires the inessive case (-massa/-mässä). It means you are making a round trip: you go somewhere to eat, and then you leave.
What is the difference in feeling between käykää syömässä and menkää syömään?
Why is the verb käykää instead of just käy?
Käykää is the second-person plural imperative (command) form, meaning the speaker is addressing more than one person. Because they are being told to eat 'together' (yhdessä), the plural form makes perfect sense here. If addressing only one person, it would be käy.
Why is katuruokaa in the partitive case?
It is partitive because it refers to an unspecified amount of an uncountable mass noun. The sentence translates to 'eat SOME street food'. If you were instructing them to eat a specific, complete meal that was already defined, you would use an object in the accusative (genitive) case.