Breakdown of Nuo ovat avuttomat eläimet armottoman luonnon keskellä.
olla
to be
nuo
those (over there)
luonto
nature
eläin
animal
keskellä
in the middle of
armoton
merciless
avuton
helpless
Questions & Answers about Nuo ovat avuttomat eläimet armottoman luonnon keskellä.
Why do avuttomat and armottoman have a double T when their base forms (avuton and armoton) only have one?
Adjectives ending in the -ton or -tön suffix use a strong-grade stem for their inflected forms. The suffix changes from a single T in the base form to a double T stem, -ttoma- or -ttömä-. You then add the required endings, like the plural -t for avuttomat or the genitive -n for armottoman.
The word for help is apu. Why doesn't the V in avuttomat change back to a P during consonant gradation?
The consonant gradation from P to V happened when the suffix was originally added to create the base word avuton. This root change is permanently locked in. When inflecting the word further, only the suffix itself undergoes gradation, changing from a single T to a double T.
Why are both armottoman and luonnon in the genitive case?
They are tied to the postposition keskellä, meaning in the middle of. Most Finnish postpositions require the noun phrase coming before them to be in the genitive case. Since the adjective armottoman describes the noun luonnon, they must both take the genitive -n ending.
Could I use ne instead of nuo to say those in this sentence?
You could, but nuo is more specific. While ne is the standard pronoun for they or those, nuo is a demonstrative pronoun that specifically points to things physically visible in the distance, like saying those ones over there.
Learn Nuo ovat avuttomat eläimet armottoman luonnon keskellä and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free