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Minun perheeni rakastaa matkustamista.

Minun perheeni rakastaa matkustamista.
My family loves traveling.
FromLesson 8inHardcore Finnish
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Breakdown of Minun perheeni rakastaa matkustamista.

minun
my
rakastaa
to love
perhe
the family
matkustaminen
traveling

Questions & Answers about Minun perheeni rakastaa matkustamista.

Why are minun and the suffix -ni both used to show my in minun perheeni? Is one of them enough?

Finnish has two ways to mark possession:

  • A possessive suffix on the noun: perhe
    • -ni → perheeni = my family
  • A separate possessive pronoun: minun = my

In standard Finnish you usually choose one. You can say either perheeni rakastaa matkustamista or minun perhe rakastaa matkustamista (the latter is less common in writing). Using both (minun perheeni) is redundant but perfectly acceptable for extra clarity or emphasis.

Why is matkustamista in the partitive case rather than the nominative matkustaminen?
Many Finnish verbs of liking or feeling—rakastaa, pitää, inhota, odottaa—take their object in the partitive when the action is general, ongoing, or unbounded. Here you’re talking about loving traveling in general, not one specific trip. The partitive matkustamista signals “some amount of traveling” rather than a single, completed event.
What is matkustaminen, and how is matkustamista formed?

matkustaminen is a verbal noun (like the English gerund “traveling”). You form it by adding -minen to the verb stem matkusta-. Once it’s a noun, it inflects like any other Finnish noun:

  • Nominative: matkustaminen (“traveling” as a concept)
  • Partitive: matkustamista (“some traveling,” used after verbs like rakastaa)
Could you say minun perheeni rakastaa matkustaa instead? Why or why not?
No. After rakastaa you need a noun or pronoun object in the appropriate case. You can’t place a second verb in the basic infinitive (matkustaa) directly as its object. Instead, you turn matkustaa into the noun matkustaminen and then use the partitive matkustamista.
Why is perheeni treated as singular, even though it refers to a group of people?
In Finnish, collective nouns like perhe (“family”) are grammatically singular because they denote one unit. Therefore, the verb stays in the third person singular: perheeni rakastaa, not rakastavat.
Can I use other verbs if I want to say “My family likes traveling” instead of “loves”?

Yes. A common milder alternative is pitää (“to like”):
Perheeni pitää matkustamisesta.
Just like rakastaa, pitää also takes the partitive: matkustamisesta. You could also use colloquial tykätä: Perheeni tykkää matkustamisesta.

How would you say “We love traveling” in Finnish?

Use the first person plural of rakastaa. You can drop the pronoun me because the verb form already shows who’s doing the loving:
Rakastamme matkustamista.
If you want to include we, you can say Me rakastamme matkustamista, but it’s optional.

More from this lesson

rakastaaperheRakastan perhettäni.matkustaminenMatkustaminen junalla on hyvä vaihtoehto.kirjailijakirjoittaatarina
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