Breakdown of Isokokoiset toukat kasvavat kennoissansakin.
kasvaa
to grow
isokokoinen
large-sized
kenno
the honeycomb
toukka
the larva
Questions & Answers about Isokokoiset toukat kasvavat kennoissansakin.
How does the word kennoissansakin break down according to the strict suffix ordering rules?
It perfectly follows the standard Finnish suffix order: Stem + Plural + Case + Possessive + Enclitic. Here, we have the stem kenno (honeycomb), the plural marker -i-, the inessive case -ssa- (in), the third-person possessive suffix -nsa- (their), and finally the enclitic particle -kin (even). Putting it all together: kenno + i + ssa + nsa + kin = kennoissansakin.
Could I use the shorter possessive suffix here instead of -nsa?
Yes! Instead of the full third-person suffix -nsa, you will often see the shorter form, which is a lengthened vowel plus -n. If you use this short form, the word becomes kennoissaan. When you add the enclitic -kin, it still attaches to the very end, giving you kennoissaankin. Both versions mean exactly the same thing, though the shorter form is generally more common in modern Finnish.
Why doesn't the word toukat take the plural -i- marker like kennoissansakin does?
The plural marker changes depending on the grammatical case. In the nominative case (the basic subject form), the plural marker is always -t attached directly to the stem, which is why we have toukat and isokokoiset. The plural -i- is only used when the word is in any of the other cases, such as the inessive case used in kennoissansakin.