Breakdown of Sateesta huolimatta he leikkivät kahdestaan käsinukeilla nukketeatterissa.
he
they
leikkiä
to play (children, with toys)
sade
rain
huolimatta
despite
nukketeatteri
puppet theatre
kahdestaan
the two of us / the two of them
käsinukke
hand puppet
Questions & Answers about Sateesta huolimatta he leikkivät kahdestaan käsinukeilla nukketeatterissa.
How does kahdestaan work here, and what exactly does it mean?
Kahdestaan is an adverb of exclusive group size formed from the number two (kaksi). It means 'two together' or 'just the two of them' with no one else involved. The suffix -staan emphasizes that the group is exclusive, meaning they were the only ones playing.
Why is sade (rain) in the elative case (sateesta) here?
The word huolimatta (despite) is a postposition that strictly requires the preceding noun to be in the elative case (-sta/-stä). Therefore, the basic form sade changes to its elative form sateesta.
Why do we use the adessive case for käsinukeilla (with hand puppets) instead of a separate word for 'with'?
In Finnish, the adessive case (-lla/-llä) is used to express the instrument or tool used to perform an action. Because the hand puppets are the tools they are playing with, they take the adessive case.
Is leikkivät in the present or past tense here?
It can be either! For many third-person plural verbs, the present and past tense forms are identical. He leikkivät can translate to 'they play' or 'they played'. You have to rely on the wider context to tell the difference, though the English translation provided here clarifies it is the past tense.
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