Questions & Answers about Hän heittää keihästä 90 metriä.
Why is the number 90 considered a 'total object' here if it looks like the basic nominative form?
In Finnish, exact distances and measurements function syntactically as direct objects. In affirmative clauses, they take the total object case. For the number one, this is the genitive-looking accusative (e.g., yhden metrin), but for numbers greater than one, the total object form is identical to the nominative case. The word metriä is in the partitive simply because it follows a number.
Why is the javelin (keihästä) in the partitive case while the distance is a total object? Can a sentence have two objects?
Yes, this sentence has a standard direct object (keihästä) and an object of measure (90). The verb heittää takes a partitive object here because throwing the javelin refers to the sport or an ongoing action without a defined endpoint. The distance, however, is a specific, completed measure, so it strictly follows the total object rule for affirmative sentences.
The word for javelin is keihäs. Why does its partitive form end in -stä instead of just -ä?
Words ending in -as or -äs (like keihäs, vieras, and taivas) form their partitive by adding -ta or -tä directly to the nominative form. Since keihäs ends in an s, adding -tä naturally creates the ending -stä, resulting in keihästä.
How would the distance phrase change if this were a negative sentence, such as 'He doesn't throw 90 meters'?
Just like regular direct objects, objects of measure must be put into the partitive case in a negative sentence. The number 90 itself would change to the partitive, making the phrase yhdeksääkymmentä metriä.
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