Word
Kengät kastuvat nopeasti.
Meaning
The shoes get wet quickly.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Kengät kastuvat nopeasti.
What grammatical form is kengät, and why does it end in -t?
It’s the nominative plural of kenkä (shoe). Subjects in basic statements are in the nominative, and the plural nominative adds -t to the stem: kengät = “shoes.”
Why is it kengät and not “kenkät”?
Consonant gradation. The word kenkä has the strong grade nk in the nominative singular. In many inflected forms (including the nominative plural), nk weakens to ng. Hence: kenkä (sg) → kengät (pl).
How do you pronounce the ng in kengät?
As a long “ng” sound (a long velar nasal), like the “ng” in “singer,” but lengthened. There is no separate “g” sound. Roughly: “ken-ngät.”
Why is the verb kastuvat plural, and what is its person/tense?
Because the subject (kengät) is plural. Kastuvat is 3rd person plural, present tense: “(they) get wet.”
Why does the ending here look like -vat instead of -vät?