Questions & Answers about En ymmärrä suomea ollenkaan.
What does en mean, and why isn’t it ei like I usually see in dictionaries?
Dictionaries typically list the negative verb as ei, but it conjugates for person, just like normal verbs:
- en = I don’t
- et = you (sg) don’t
- ei = he/she/it doesn’t
- emme = we don’t
- ette = you (pl) don’t
- eivät = they don’t
So in En ymmärrä suomea ollenkaan, en is the 1st person singular form of ei and means “I don’t.”
Why is it ymmärrä and not ymmärtää, which is the form I see in dictionaries?
Ymmärtää is the dictionary (infinitive) form: “to understand.”
In a negative sentence, the main verb goes into a special “connegative” form:
- The negative verb carries the person: en (I don’t)
- The main verb appears without personal ending: ymmärrä
So:
- Affirmative: Minä ymmärrän suomea. – I understand Finnish.
- Negative: En ymmärrä suomea. – I don’t understand Finnish.
The stem here is ymmärrä-, so the connegative form is also ymmärrä.
Why is it and not ?