Breakdown of Ensinnäkin haluan kiittää teitä kaikkia.
te
you (plural/formal)
kiittää
to thank
haluta
to want
kaikki
all, everything, everyone
ensinnäkin
firstly (to begin with)
Questions & Answers about Ensinnäkin haluan kiittää teitä kaikkia.
How is the word ensinnäkin formed, and what does the -kin suffix add?
Ensinnäkin is built from the essive case of the root ensi (first), making ensinnä, which means "as a first thing". The clitic -kin is added for emphasis. While -kin usually means "also" or "too", here it solidifies the meaning into the fixed phrase "first of all" or "firstly".
Why is the object teitä kaikkia in the partitive case instead of the accusative?
The verb kiittää (to thank) always requires its object to be in the partitive case. Even though you are thanking specific people and completing an action, the grammatical rule for this specific "partitive verb" overrides standard object rules, so te (you) becomes teitä.
Why does kaikki take the form kaikkia here?
The word kaikki (all) must agree in case and number with the pronoun it modifies. Since the verb requires teitä to be in the partitive plural, kaikki must also be inflected into the partitive plural, becoming kaikkia.
Could I change the word order and say kaikkia teitä instead of teitä kaikkia?
Yes, both are perfectly correct and mean the same thing. Teitä kaikkia feels slightly closer to the English "you all", while kaikkia teitä leans towards "all of you", but native speakers use them interchangeably in contexts like this.
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