Breakdown of Koulu lähettää tiedotteen vanhemmille.
koulu
school
lähettää
to send
vanhemmat
parents
tiedote
bulletin, announcement
Questions & Answers about Koulu lähettää tiedotteen vanhemmille.
Why is tiedotteen in the genitive/accusative case instead of the partitive?
The school is sending a single, complete bulletin, so it takes the total object case (which looks like the genitive here). If the action were ongoing, or if they were sending an unspecified amount of something, you would use the partitive.
How is the word tiedotteen related to the word tieto (information)?
They share the same root! Tieto means knowledge or data. From that, we get the verb tiedottaa (to inform or announce), and finally the noun tiedote (a bulletin or release). Because tiedote is an e-stem word, its total object form doubles the final vowel and adds -n, becoming tiedotteen.
Doesn't the base word vanhempi actually mean "older"?
Exactly! It is the comparative form of vanha (old), but it has become the standard Finnish noun for "parent". To say "to the parents", you take the plural stem vanhemmi- and add the allative ending -lle.
Why does the -mp- in vanhempi change to -mm- in vanhemmille?
This happens because of consonant gradation. The ending -lle closes the syllable, which forces the strong grade -mp- to weaken to -mm-.