Breakdown of Pidättekö vahaa savuttimissannekin?
pitää
to hold / take (a break)
vaha
the wax
savutin
the smoker
Questions & Answers about Pidättekö vahaa savuttimissannekin?
Can you break down the exact order of the suffixes on savuttimissannekin?
It perfectly follows the standard Finnish suffix order rule: Stem + Plural + Case + Possessive + Clitic. The plural stem is savuttimi-. To this, we attach the inessive case -ssa (in), the 2nd person plural possessive -nne (your), and the enclitic particle -kin (also/even). This gives us savuttimi + ssa + nne + kin.
How did the base word savutin (smoker) turn into the stem savuttimi-?
Nouns ending in -in usually describe tools or instruments, and their stem changes to -ime- when adding suffixes (just like puhelin becomes puhelime-). When we add the plural marker -i-, the final -e- of the stem drops, giving us the plural stem savuttimi-.
Why doesn't pidättekö mean "do you like" in this sentence?
The verb pitää only means "to like" when the object is in the elative case (ending in -sta or -stä). Because vahaa is in the partitive case here, pitää takes on its other major meaning: to keep, hold, or retain.
Why is vaha (wax) in the partitive case (vahaa)?
Wax is an uncountable mass noun. Because the sentence refers to an unspecified, indefinite amount of wax being kept in the smokers, the object must take the partitive case.
Learn Pidättekö vahaa savuttimissannekin 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