Ennen muuttoa olin ostanut kaikki tarvittavat tarvikkeet keittiöön.

Before the move I had bought all the necessary supplies for the kitchen.

Breakdown of Ennen muuttoa olin ostanut kaikki tarvittavat tarvikkeet keittiöön.

• olla: to be
• keittiö: the kitchen
• ostaa: to buy
• ennen: before
• kaikki: all
• muutto: the move
• tarvittava: necessary
• tarvike: the supply
• -öön: to

Questions & Answers about Ennen muuttoa olin ostanut kaikki tarvittavat tarvikkeet keittiöön.

What case is muuttoa in Ennen muuttoa, and why is that case used?

Muuttoa is in the partitive case. The preposition ennen always governs the partitive when you express “before” an event or time.

Why is the verb in olin ostanut (pluperfect) instead of the simple past ostin?

Finnish uses the pluperfect (olin ostanut) to describe an action that was completed before another past action—in this case, buying happened before moving. The simple past (ostin) would just state “I bought” without anchoring it relative to a later past event.

Why is kaikki tarvittavat tarvikkeet in the nominative plural rather than partitive?

After a perfect or pluperfect tense verb (like olin ostanut), a fully completed, definite object takes the nominative (tarvikkeet). You would only use the partitive if the action were ongoing, incomplete, or you wanted to express an unbounded quantity.

What case is keittiöön, and what nuance does it add?

Keittiöön is the illative case (marked by -seen/-hän), literally meaning “into the kitchen.” Here it implies the supplies were intended for or moved “into” that room—essentially “for the kitchen.”

What part of speech is tarvittavat, and why does it have double tt?

Tarvittavat is the present passive participle of tarvita used adjectivally to mean “necessary.” Finnish passive participles often double the consonant before adding -tava (tarvit- + tava → tarvittava).

Could you say kaikki tarvittavat tarvikkeet keittiötä varten instead of keittiöön? What’s the difference?

Yes. Keittiötä varten (“for the kitchen”) uses the genitive plus varten to express purpose, focusing on “intended for.” The illative keittiöön emphasizes movement or placement “into the kitchen.” Both convey that the supplies are meant for kitchen use.