Questions & Answers about Kirjekuori puuttuu, joten en voi lähettää kirjettä.
Why is kirjekuori (envelope) in the basic form (nominative) in Kirjekuori puuttuu instead of some “object” case?
With puuttua (to be missing / to be lacking), the thing that is missing is typically the subject, so it appears in the nominative:
- Kirjekuori puuttuu. = An envelope is missing.
Another common structure is to mark who is lacking something:
- Minulta puuttuu kirjekuori. = I’m missing an envelope / I don’t have an envelope.
So kirjekuori is treated as the grammatical subject of puuttuu.
What does puuttuu come from, and what is its dictionary form?
Puuttuu is the 3rd person singular present tense form of puuttua.
- puuttua = to be missing; to be lacking; to be absent
- (se) puuttuu = it is missing
It’s an intransitive verb here (no direct object).
Why is there a comma before joten?