Breakdown of Uudet opiskelijat muuttavat farkut kauniiksi laukuiksi.
uusi
new
kaunis
beautiful
opiskelija
student
laukku
bag
muuttaa
to change (something)
farkut
jeans
Questions & Answers about Uudet opiskelijat muuttavat farkut kauniiksi laukuiksi.
How is laukuiksi formed from the basic word laukku?
Laukuiksi is in the translative plural case, meaning "into bags". Adding the translative ending -ksi closes the syllable, which triggers consonant gradation. The strong kk in laukku weakens to a single k. You add the plural -i- and the translative -ksi to this weak stem to get laukuiksi.
Is the adjective kauniiksi singular or plural here?
It is plural to agree with laukuiksi, but interestingly, the singular and plural translative forms of kaunis look exactly the same! The singular stem is kaunii- plus -ksi (kauniiksi). For the plural, the plural marker -i- simply merges with the long ii of the stem, also resulting in kauniiksi.
Why is the object farkut in the nominative plural instead of the partitive?
Farkut (jeans) is a plural-only word in Finnish. Because the students are transforming the entire pair of jeans (a completed action), it takes the total object form. For plural words, the total object is identical to the nominative plural. If they were only modifying part of the jeans, it would be in the partitive (farkkuja).
How does the verb muuttaa dictate the case of the words that follow it here?
When muuttaa means "to transform" or "turn into," the new state or thing being created must be in the translative case (here, laukuiksi). If you were using muuttaa to mean "to move" (like moving to a new city), the destination would take the illative case (e.g., muuttavat Helsinkiin).
Learn Uudet opiskelijat muuttavat farkut kauniiksi laukuiksi and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free