Breakdown of Kolmissa ristiäisissä ja kaksissa kihlajaisissa me istuimme saman tarjoilupöydän vieressä.
ja
and
me
we
istua
to sit
kaksi
two
kolme
three
vieressä
next to
sama
same
kihlajaiset
the engagement party
ristiäiset
the christening
tarjoilupöytä
the serving table
Questions & Answers about Kolmissa ristiäisissä ja kaksissa kihlajaisissa me istuimme saman tarjoilupöydän vieressä.
Why are the numbers in the plural form (kolmissa, kaksissa) rather than the singular inessive (kolmessa, kahdessa)?
Words like ristiäiset (christening) and kihlajaiset (engagement party) are plural-only nouns. When counting plural-only nouns, the number modifying them must also be put into the plural form and match the noun's case. Since the events are in the inessive case (meaning 'at' or 'in'), the numbers become plural inessive: kolmissa and kaksissa.
How do you form the plural stems for numbers to get kolmissa and kaksissa?
To form the plural inessive, you add the plural marker -i- and the case ending -ssa/-ssä. For kolme, the final -e drops before the plural -i- marker, giving kolmissa. For kaksi, the plural stem is kaksi-, resulting in kaksissa.
Why do these events use the inessive case (-ssä/-ssa) instead of the adessive (-llä/-lla) for 'at'?
While many events use the adessive case (like kurssilla for 'at a course'), family celebrations and parties ending in the -iset suffix conventionally take the inessive case. This is a set pattern for words like ristiäiset, kihlajaiset, and also häät (weddings, which becomes häissä).
Why are both sama and tarjoilupöytä in the genitive case (saman tarjoilupöydän)?
The phrase is governed by the postposition vieressä (next to). In Finnish, the vast majority of postpositions require the entire noun phrase preceding them to be in the genitive case. Because sama (same) modifies tarjoilupöytä (serving table), both take the genitive -n ending.
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