Question 1

What does kirjoita mean and how is this form get formed?

Accepted Answer

Kirjoita is the 2nd-person singular imperative of kirjoittaa (to write). In Finnish, to give a command to one person for a verb ending in -ta/-tä, you drop -ta/-tä and add -a/-ä.  
- kirjoittaa → kirjoita  
This tells someone directly: “You, write!”

Question 2

Why is numero in the nominative singular and not in the partitive?

Accepted Answer

Finnish uses two main cases for direct objects: the nominative (total/complete) and the partitive (partial/incomplete). Here you’re asking for one complete unit—a single number—so you use the nominative singular numero. If you were asking to “write numbers” continuously or in an unspecified amount, you might use the partitive: kirjoita numeroa (write some number/keep writing numbers).

Question 3

What case are tähän and dokumenttiin, and what exactly do they express?

Accepted Answer

Both tähän and dokumenttiin are in the illative case, which indicates movement “into” something.  
- tähän = illative of tämä (this), literally “into here”  
- dokumenttiin = illative of dokumentti (document), “into the document”  
Together tähän dokumenttiin means “into this document.”

Question 4

Why does dokumenttiin have a double t and a double i?

Accepted Answer

A couple of things combine here:  
1) dokumentti already ends in a long consonant -tt-.  
2) For illative singular on a stem ending in -i, Finnish lengthens the i and adds n.  
   - dokumentti + (i + n) → dokumentt-ii-n → dokumenttiin  
The two t’s stay, and the i becomes ii before the final n.

Question 5

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Tähän dokumenttiin kirjoita numero?

Accepted Answer

Finnish has fairly flexible word order. The neutral is V-O-Adverbial (verb-object-place):  
  Kirjoita numero tähän dokumenttiin.  
You can front the adverbial for emphasis on location:  
  Tähän dokumenttiin kirjoita numero.  
That’s grammatically correct but a bit marked — it stresses where you must write the number.

Question 6

What’s the difference between saying tähän dokumenttiin (illative) and tässä dokumentissa (inessive)?

Accepted Answer

- tähän dokumenttiin (illative) = “into this document” → focus on the target/direction of writing  
- tässä dokumentissa (inessive) = “in/inside this document” → focus on the location where something already is  
In instructions you normally use the illative to indicate “write into this document” rather than just “in” it.

Question 7

How would I change the sentence if I’m giving the instruction to several people?

Accepted Answer

You switch to the 2nd-person plural imperative and make the object plural if you want them each to write numbers:  
  “Kirjoittakaa numerot tähän dokumenttiin.”  
Here kirjoittakaa is the plural command form of kirjoittaa, and numerot is the plural nominative.

Kirjoita numero tähän dokumenttiin.

Breakdown of Kirjoita numero tähän dokumenttiin.

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