Juhlapöytä täyttyi erilaisista herkuista.

The party table was filled with various treats.

Breakdown of Juhlapöytä täyttyi erilaisista herkuista.

• juhlapöytä: the party table
• täyttyä: to be filled
• erilainen: various
• herkku: the treat

Questions & Answers about Juhlapöytä täyttyi erilaisista herkuista.

What grammatical case is erilaisista herkuista, and why is it used in this sentence?

Erilaisista herkuista is in the elative plural (the “out-of” case: –sta/–stä). The verb täyttyä takes its complement in the elative to indicate what something is filled from or with. So here “the party table filled up from various treats.”

What does the verb täyttyä mean, and what are the tense and person of täyttyi?

Täyttyä is an intransitive verb meaning “to become full” or “to get filled.”

• Täyttyi is its third person singular imperfect (past) form, i.e. “it filled up” or “it became full.”
• Present tense would be täyttyy (“it fills up/is filling up”).

How is the elative plural of an adjective like erilainen formed?

1. Start with the adjective stem: erilainen.
2. Drop the -nen ending → erilaisa-.
3. Add the plural elative ending –ista → erilaisista.
   So erilaiset (nom. pl.) → erilaisista (elat. pl.).

What is juhlapöytä? Is it a compound word?

Yes. Juhlapöytä is a noun compound made of juhla (“celebration”) + pöytä (“table”). Together it means “party table” or “buffet table.”

What’s the difference between täyttyä and täyttää?

• Täyttyä is intransitive: something becomes full (and takes the elative case).
• Täyttää is transitive: someone fills something (and usually takes a partitive object, e.g. täyttää lasin vedellä “to fill a glass with water”).

Could I express the same idea using täynnä instead of täyttyä? How would the sentence change?

Yes. You could say:
Juhlapöytä oli täynnä erilaisia herkkuja.
Here täynnä is an adjective “full (of) …,” and it takes the partitive plural erilaisia herkkuja instead of the elative erilaisista herkuista.

Why isn’t there a direct object in the original sentence?

Because täyttyä is intransitive: the thing being filled is the grammatical subject (juhlapöytä), and what it’s filled with goes in the elative case, not as a direct object.