Questions & Answers about Jäin katsomaan kipinöitä.
Why does this sentence use the illative form katsomaan instead of the basic infinitive katsoa?
The verb jäädä (to stay/remain) dictates the form of the next verb. It requires the illative form of the third infinitive, which ends in -maan or -mään. While in English we say "stayed to watch", Finnish essentially says "stayed into watching". This same rule applies to other verbs of leaving and forgetting taught in this lesson, like jättää and unohtaa.
Why is the object kipinöitä in the partitive case?
The verb katsoa (to watch/look at) is a partitive verb, meaning its object must take the partitive case. Because the speaker is watching an unspecified number of multiple sparks, the word is in the partitive plural form.
How do we get the form kipinöitä from the dictionary word kipinä?
The dictionary word is kipinä (spark). Nouns ending in -ina or -inä undergo a specific vowel change in the plural: the final -a/-ä changes to -o-/-ö- before adding the plural marker -i-. When we add the partitive ending -tä, the stem kipinöi- becomes kipinöitä.
Could I use the verb pysyä (to stay/keep) instead of jäädä in this sentence?
No, jäädä is the correct choice here. While both can translate to "stay" in English, jäädä means to remain behind in a location, which is used when you stay somewhere to perform an action. Pysyä means to remain in a constant state or condition, such as staying awake or staying healthy.
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