Breakdown of Naapurivahti tarvitsee meidän kaikkien apua.
me
we
tarvita
to need
apu
help
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
naapurivahti
the neighborhood watch
Questions & Answers about Naapurivahti tarvitsee meidän kaikkien apua.
Why are both parts of meidän kaikkien in the genitive case?
This demonstrates syntactic agreement. When a quantifier like kaikki (all) modifies a personal pronoun like me (we), both words must inflect in the same case. Since the phrase expresses possession (our help), both take the genitive case.
Is kaikkien in the genitive singular or plural here?
It is the genitive plural. Because it agrees with the plural pronoun me (we), kaikki must also be pluralized. The genitive singular is kaiken, but to match the plural 'us', it becomes the plural kaikkien.
Can I change the word order to kaikkien meidän apua?
Yes, you can. Both word orders are grammatically correct and mean the same thing, but meidän kaikkien is the standard and most natural-sounding order in Finnish.
Why does tarvitsee take the partitive object apua here?
The verb tarvita (to need) takes a partitive object when the thing needed is an abstract, uncountable noun like apu (help). You are expressing a need for an undefined amount of help. If the object were a specific countable thing, it would take the genitive-like accusative, for example: tarvitsemme uuden auton (we need a new car).
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