Questions & Answers about Tuli tuhosi vanhan talon.
Why is tuli the subject here, and what does it mean?
Here tuli means fire.
It is the subject of the sentence: Tuli tuhosi vanhan talon = The fire destroyed the old house.
A common source of confusion is that tuli can also be a verb form meaning came (from tulla, to come). But in this sentence, it cannot mean came, because the next word tuhosi is already the main verb. So here tuli must be a noun: fire.
What form is tuhosi?
Tuhosi is the past tense of the verb tuhota, meaning to destroy.
More specifically, it is:
- third person singular
- past tense
So:
- minä tuhosin = I destroyed
- hän/se tuhosi = he/she/it destroyed
In this sentence, tuhosi matches the singular subject tuli.
Why is it vanhan talon and not vanha talo?