Kiitän sinua avusta.

you

Breakdown of Kiitän sinua avusta.

• apu: the help
• kiittää: to thank

Questions & Answers about Kiitän sinua avusta.

What is the basic dictionary form of kiitän, and what form is it here?

The dictionary form is kiittää, meaning to thank.

Kiitän is the 1st person singular present tense form, so it means I thank or I am thanking.

A quick pattern:

• minä kiitän = I thank
• sinä kiität = you thank
• hän kiittää = he/she/they thank

So in this sentence, kiitän tells you that the speaker is the one doing the thanking.

Why is it sinua and not sinä?

Because sinua is not the subject here; it is the person being thanked.

• sinä = you as the subject
• sinua = you in the partitive case

The verb kiittää normally takes the person thanked in the partitive:

• Kiitän sinua = I thank you
• Kiitämme häntä = We thank him/her/them

So sinua is used because Finnish grammar requires that form after kiittää.

Why is the person thanked in the partitive case here?