Learn Finnish: Mehiläiset pölyttävät kukkia puutarhoissammekin. - The bees pollinate flowers even in our gardens.

This word perfectly follows the strict Finnish suffix order: Stem + Plural + Case + Possessive + Enclitic. The stem is puutarha (garden). We add the plural -i-, the inessive case -ssa (in), the possessive -mme (our), and finally the enclitic particle -kin (even/also).

Why does the final -a in puutarha turn into an -o- before the plural -i-?

When adding the plural -i- to a noun ending in -a, the final vowel changes to -o- if the first vowel of the word is a, u, or o. Because puutarha is a compound word (puu + tarha), the rule applies to its second part. The first vowel of tarha is a, so the plural stem becomes puutarhoi-.

Why is kukkia in the partitive case here?

The verb pölyttää (to pollinate) describes an ongoing or unbounded action. The bees are pollinating an indefinite number of flowers, not a specific, closed group of them, which requires the partitive plural.

Does the verb pölyttävät come from the word pöly (dust)?