Questions & Answers about Me pidämme heistä molemmista, koska he ovat valppaita.
Why do both "heistä" and "molemmista" have the -sta/-stä ending?
In Finnish, when a personal pronoun is paired with a quantifier like molemmat (both) or kaikki (all), both words must inflect in the same case. Because the verb in this sentence requires the elative case (-sta/-stä), both he and molemmat agree and become heistä molemmista.
Just to refresh my memory, why is the elative case used here instead of an object case like the partitive?
The verb pitää requires its target to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä) when it means "to like." If you used a different case or structure, the verb would mean something entirely different (for example, pitää + infinitive means "to have to").
Why is "valppaita" in the partitive plural instead of the nominative plural?
In a predicative sentence (A is B), when the subject is plural (like he, they), the describing adjective must be in the partitive plural. If you used the nominative plural (valppaat), it would sound restrictive, similar to saying "They are the vigilant ones" rather than simply "They are vigilant."
What is the dictionary form of "valppaita", and why does the spelling change so much?