Breakdown of Ostin kymmenen polettia kympillä.
kymmenen
ten
ostaa
to buy
poletti
token (coin-like)
kymppi
tenner
Questions & Answers about Ostin kymmenen polettia kympillä.
Why does the sentence use the adessive case for kympillä?
It demonstrates the adessive of price, which is the focus of this lesson. When you buy, sell, or rent something for a specific amount, Finnish uses the adessive case (-lla/-llä) on the price. So kympillä means for a tenner.
Is kymppi just another word for ten?
Yes, kymppi is a very common spoken-language word for ten, a tenner, or a ten-euro note. While you could technically say kymmenellä eurolla (for ten euros), using kympillä is much more natural and concise in everyday spoken Finnish.
As the direct object of ostin, why is the number ten in its basic form rather than looking like an object?
It actually is in the object form! For numbers greater than one, the total object form (accusative) looks exactly like the basic nominative form (here, kymmenen). The noun that belongs to the number must then take the partitive singular case, which is why the sentence uses polettia.
What context would I use a poletti in?
A poletti is a physical token or coin-like chip. You will typically see this word used for arcade tokens, car wash tokens, cloakroom checks, or the plastic chips you put into supermarket shopping carts instead of a real coin.