Questions & Answers about Hän hyppää 5 metriä ilman seivästä.
The current lesson states we use the total object (nominative or genitive) for exact distances. Why is metriä in the partitive case?
In the phrase 5 metriä (viisi metriä), the actual "total object" is the number viisi. It is in its basic nominative-accusative form, perfectly following the rule for expressing an exact distance in an affirmative sentence. The word metriä is in the partitive singular simply because any number greater than one forces the noun following it into the partitive.
Why is seiväs (pole) in the partitive form seivästä?
It follows ilman (without), which is a preposition that requires the noun attached to it to be in the partitive case.
How does the word seiväs change to seivästä in the partitive? Is there consonant gradation?
Seiväs belongs to the family of -as/-äs words (like rakas or älykäs). To form the partitive for this word type, the ending -ta/-tä is attached directly to the basic dictionary form. This is why there is no consonant gradation in the partitive, even though the stem changes in other cases (for example, the genitive is seipään).
As an alternative to ilman seivästä, could I use the abessive case here?