Minulla on useita uusia koiria.

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Breakdown of Minulla on useita uusia koiria.

• koira: the dog
• uusi: new
• usea: several

Questions & Answers about Minulla on useita uusia koiria.

What does minulla mean, and why is it used instead of minä?

Minulla is the adessive form of minä (meaning "I"). Literally, it translates to "at me" or "with me." In Finnish, possession is expressed by placing the possessor in the adessive case, which is why instead of simply using minä for "I have," the language uses minulla on to mean "I have" (literally "at me is").

Why is the noun koiria in the partitive plural form, and not the nominative plural koirat?

In Finnish, when you express possession—especially with indefinite quantities—the possessed noun is often in the partitive case. Koiria is the partitive plural of koira ("dog"), used here to indicate that the dogs are not counted as a complete, fixed set. This reflects the idea of having "several" dogs rather than all of them in a defined group.

What roles do useita and uusia play in the sentence, and why are their forms chosen?

Useita functions as a quantifier meaning "several" and is the partitive plural form of usea ("many" or "several"). Uusia is the adjective form of uusi ("new"), also in the partitive plural. In Finnish, adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in both number and case. Since koiria is in the partitive plural, both useita and uusia take the partitive plural form to correctly modify it.

What is the function of the verb on in this sentence?

The verb on is the third-person singular form of olla ("to be"). In Finnish, possession is expressed by combining the adessive form of the possessor (minulla) with the verb on, which effectively means "there is" or "exists." Thus, minulla on can be understood as "at me there is," which is equivalent to the English "I have."

How does the structure of this sentence illustrate Finnish possession compared to English possession?

While English directly uses the verb "have" to show possession, Finnish employs a different structure. In this sentence, the possessor is marked by the adessive case (minulla), and the existence of the object is indicated by the verb on. The possessed item, here "several new dogs," is in the partitive case, which is typical for indefinite or incomplete sets. This construction—literally "at me is several new dogs"—shows how Finnish grammar encodes possession through case marking and verb choice, rather than relying solely on a possessive verb.