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Questions & Answers about Sukeltajat pukivat märkäpuvun.
Why is märkäpuvun in the singular if there are multiple divers and multiple wetsuits?
This is the distributive singular. When a group of people does an action where each person interacts with exactly one of an item (like putting on one suit each), Finnish prefers the singular. If you used the plural märkäpuvut, it might sound like each diver is putting on several wetsuits at once.
Why does the object märkäpuvun end in -n?
The verb pukivat (put on) expresses a completed action here. Therefore, its object is a total object. Since it is a singular noun, the total object takes the genitive-like ending -n.
Could I add päälle or päälleen to this sentence?
Yes, you could say Sukeltajat pukivat märkäpuvun päälleen to explicitly mean they put the wetsuits on themselves. However, the verb pukea alone with a clothing object already means putting that clothing on, so the extra words are often left out.
Why isn't the first part of märkäpuku inflected here? Shouldn't it be märänpuvun?
Because märkäpuku is a single compound word (wetsuit), not a separate adjective modifying a noun (a wet suit). In Finnish compound words, only the final word part takes the case ending, so märkä stays in its basic form while puku changes to puvun.