Breakdown of Luin kirjan. Se oli todella hyvä.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
kirja
book
hyvä
good
lukea
to read
todella
really (very, intensifier)
Questions & Answers about Luin kirjan. Se oli todella hyvä.
Why is the object kirjan (with an -n) instead of the partitive kirjaa?
The -n ending makes kirjan a total object. This shows that the action was fully completed: you read the entire book. If you used the partitive case (Luin kirjaa), it would mean you were reading the book but hadn't finished it yet, or only read a part of it.
How does the verb lukea (to read) become luin in the past tense?
There are two things happening here. First, consonant gradation causes the strong k to disappear when we add the personal ending -n. Second, to form the past tense, we add an -i-. The basic stem is luke-, which becomes lue- without the k. When we add the past tense -i-, the e drops out, resulting in lui-. Add the -n for I, and you get luin.
Is todella the only way to say really?
No, you will also hear tosi used very often to mean really or very (like tosi hyvä). Tosi is extremely common in casual, spoken Finnish, while todella is standard and works perfectly in both writing and speech. Both come from a root word meaning true.
Could I say todella hyvin here instead of todella hyvä?
Not in this context. Hyvä is an adjective meaning good, and it describes a noun (the book). Hyvin is an adverb meaning well, which describes how an action is done (for example, I read well). Since you are describing what the book was like, you must use hyvä.
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