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Questions & Answers about Miestä ei ollut ammuttu.
Why is the auxiliary verb ollut in the active form instead of the passive oltu?
This is a strict rule for the negative pluperfect passive in standard Finnish! In the affirmative, you use two passives (oltiin ammuttu). But in the negative, the auxiliary verb olla takes its active singular form (ollut). Only the main verb stays passive. While you might hear ei oltu ammuttu in casual speech, the correct standard form is always ei ollut ammuttu.
Why is the word for man in the partitive case (miestä)?
In negative sentences, the object must always be in the partitive case. Even though the man translates as the subject in the English passive sentence, Finnish treats miestä as the object of the verb ampua. Because the action is negative (the shooting didn't happen), the partitive is required.
How is the form ammuttu made from the dictionary verb ampua?
Ampua (to shoot) is a type 1 verb. To form the passive past participle, you use the weak stem. The consonant combination mp weakens to mm, giving the stem ammu-. Then you add the standard passive ending -ttu.
What makes this translate to "had not been shot" instead of just "was not shot"?
The addition of the auxiliary verb ollut creates the pluperfect tense. The simple past negative ("was not shot") is just ei ammuttu. By combining ei ollut with the passive participle ammuttu, it indicates that the event had not happened before another point in the past.