Breakdown of Jos olisin tiennyt, olisin liimannut nämä palat uusiksi koristeiksi.
tämä
this
olla
to be
uusi
new
tietää
to know
jos
if
koriste
decoration
pala
piece (fragment, chunk)
liimata
to glue
Questions & Answers about Jos olisin tiennyt, olisin liimannut nämä palat uusiksi koristeiksi.
Why do we use the translative plural -iksi on uusiksi koristeiksi in this sentence?
The translative case is used to express a change of state, role, or becoming something new. Because the pieces are being transformed into decorations through the act of gluing, they take the translative. Since there are multiple pieces becoming multiple decorations, we use the plural translative ending -iksi.
How is the plural translative form koristeiksi built from the base word koriste?
Words ending in -e, like koriste, have a stem ending in two es (koristee-). When you add the plural marker -i-, one of the es is dropped. Then you add the translative ending -ksi, giving you koristee- plus -i- plus -ksi, which becomes koristeiksi.
This lesson mentions the weak consonant grade for the translative plural. Does that happen in uusiksi koristeiksi?
The translative plural ending -iksi usually triggers the weak grade in words that undergo consonant gradation, because it closes the syllable. However, neither uusi nor koriste has k, p, or t consonants that grade in their stems, so they do not undergo consonant gradation here.
What verb tense is olisin tiennyt and olisin liimannut, and how is it formed?
This is the conditional perfect, used for hypothetical past events. It is formed using the conditional of the verb olla (olisin, olisit, etc.) plus the active past participle (-nut or -nyt) of the main verb.
Why is the object nämä palat in the plural nominative rather than the partitive näitä paloja?
The plural nominative (ending in -t) is used for a total object in the plural when an action is considered complete. The speaker is talking about gluing all of these specific pieces completely into decorations, so the total object is required rather than the partitive.
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