Breakdown of Mä tiiän, et me oltiin täällä vastavalmistuneina työkavereina.
olla
to be
minä
I
me
we
täällä
here
tietää
to know
että
that (conjunction)
vastavalmistunut
new graduate
työkaveri
coworker
Questions & Answers about Mä tiiän, et me oltiin täällä vastavalmistuneina työkavereina.
What marks this sentence as spoken Finnish rather than standard written Finnish?
The words mä tiiän, et are common spoken forms of minä tiedän, että. Additionally, me oltiin uses the passive past tense to mean we were. This is the standard way to express the first-person plural in spoken Finnish, replacing the written form me olimme.
What is the base form of vastavalmistuneina and how does it decline into the essive plural?
The base word is vastavalmistunut (newly graduated), which combines vasta (just/newly) and the past active participle of valmistua (to graduate). For words ending in -nut, the stem changes to -nee-. We then add the plural marker -i- and the essive ending -na, resulting in vastavalmistuneina.
Why does the stem for työkavereina have an e before the plural i?
The base word is työkaveri. When a noun ends in -i, that final vowel changes to -e- when attaching the plural marker -i-, creating the stem työkaverei-. Then the essive ending -na is added. Note that the essive plural always keeps the strong consonant grade, though this specific word does not have gradating consonants.
Why does this sentence use the essive case (-na) instead of the translative case (-ksi)?
The essive case is used for temporary states or roles, expressing that they were there acting as newly graduated coworkers. If the translative case were used (vastavalmistuneiksi työkavereiksi), it would imply a change of state, meaning they came here in order to become coworkers.
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