Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts

Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Third infinitive

lukemassa - in the act of reading
lukemasta - from just having been reading
lukemaan - about to be / with the intention of reading
lukemalla - by reading
lukematta - without reading

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Cases

CasesEndingExample
Nominativus-laukku
Genitivus-nlaukkun - bag's
Partitivus-alaukkua - (táskát in Hungarian )
Innessivus-ssa/ssäjunassa - in the train
Illativus-Vn -hVn -seenlaukkuun - to the bag
Elativus-sta/stälaukusta - from the bag
Adessivus-lla/-lläjunalla - with the train
Allativus-llejunalle - on the train
Ablativus-lta/-ltäjunalta - about the train
Translativus-ksijunaksi - (vonattá in Hungarian)
Essivus-na/-näjunana - like a train (vonatként in Hungarian)

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Pre and post

Postpositions

Postpositions indicate place, time, cause, consequence or relation. In postpositional phrases the noun is usually in genitive:

pöydän alla -> under the table
joulun jälkeen -> after Christmas

Prepositions

In prepositional phrases the noun is always in the partitive:
ennen joulua -> before Christmas
ilman sinua -> without you

Some postpositions can also be used as prepositions:
kylän keskellä / keskellä kylää -> in the middle of the village

Sunday, 15 March 2009

Let's do it!

Add an/än at the end of the verb except the 1. verb type which will get taan/tään.

juoda -> juodan Juodan oluta! - Let's drink beer!
kävellä -> kävellään Kävellän! - Let's walk!
tavata -> tavataan Tavataan huomenna! - Lets meet tomorrow!
valita -> valitaan Valitaan elokuvaa! - Lets choose a movie!
puhu -> puhutaan Puhutaan suomea! - Lets speak finnish!

The negative is done by removing an/än from the verb, the negative word is always ei.
Ei puhuta englantia! - Let's not speak English.
Ei mennä torille! - Let's not got to the market.

Saturday, 14 March 2009

Don't

Älä seiso peilin edessä.

Älä - don't
seisoa - to stand
peili - mirror
edessä - in front of

The singular imperative is simply the verb's present tense without any personal ending (that is, chop the '-n' off the first person singular form). To make this negative, 'älä' (which is the definite imperative singular 2nd person of the negative verb) is placed before the positive form.

Tuesday, 10 March 2009

How?

Miten tämä sanotaan englanniksi? - How do you say it in English?

kuinka - how
tämä - this
sanotaan - The present indefinite is formed by adding '-taan' to the inflecting stem of the verb with the consonant in its weak form. The Finnish indefinite would best be described as a "fourth person", since there is no way of connecting the action performed with a particular agent and hence there is only one form of the indefinite. This should become clear through an example: talo maalataan "the house will be/is being painted".

englanniksi-translative (translatiivi) This declension (case) indicates a change in state of a noun, with the general sense of "becoming X" or "change to X". (In hungarian -va' -ve' endings )

Monday, 2 March 2009

Questions?????

Kuka - Who

Kuka hän on? Who is he?

Mikä - What (asking in general)

Mikä hänen nimensä on? What is his name?

Mitä - What (asking for concrete thing)

Mitä kieltä hän puhuu? What language does he speak?

Minkä - Which

Genitive and genitive-looking accusative form of mikä.
Minkä maalainen hän on? From which country does he come?
Minkä elokuvan sinä katsoit? Which movie did you watch?

Missä - Which

Missä kaupungissa te asutte? Which city do you live in?

Mistä - Where from

Mistä te tulette? Where do you come from?

Mihin - Where

Mihin te menette? Where are you going?

Kuinka - How many

Kuinka vanha hän on? How old is she?

Miten - How

Miten hän puhuu suomea? How well does she speak Finnish?

Miksi - Why

Miksi hän opiskelee suomea? Why is she studying Finnish?

Milloin - When

Milloin te tulette? When will you come?

Millainen - What kind of (asking for a concrete thing)

Millainen ilma tänään on? What is the weather like today?

Millaista - what (from asking in general)

Millasta kahvi on? What is the coffee like?