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#10Finnish by Gwaur
FinnishEnglish

Limargia katsoi huoneeseeni ja kysyi:
"Pakkasitko jo kamasi? Senkin älykääpiö, laukkusi on ihan täpötäynnä!"
Vastasin:
"En! Kukaan ei ole koskenut kamoihini... luulisin. Ne ovat olleet koko ajan itsekseen."

Limargia looked into my room and asked:
"Did you pack your stuff already? You moron, your suitcase is absolutely full!"
I answered:
"No! No-one's touched my stuff... I think. They've been by themselves all the time."

VOCABULARY

  • aika – n. time
  • ei – v. to not (special verb)
  • huone – n. room
  • ihan – det. entirely, completely
  • itsekseen – "by oneself"
  • ja – conj. and
  • jo – adv. already
  • kama – n. stuff, junk
  • katsoa – v. to look, watch (I)
  • koko – det. whole, all
  • koskea – v. to touch (I)
  • [ei] kukaan – prn. [no]body
  • kysyä – v. to ask (I)
  • laukku – n. suitcase
  • Limargia – n. a person's name
  • luulla – v. to think (III)
  • ne – prn. they (non-human)
  • olla – v. to be (irregular III)
  • pakata – v. to pack (IV)
  • senkin – focuser for insults, "you ____!"
  • täynnä – adj. full
  • vastata – v. to answer, reply (IV)
  • älykääpiö – n. dwarf in intelligence

GRAMMAR

CONSONANT GRADATION

Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation that occurs at the border of the ultimate and penultimate syllables of a stem. Basically there are pairs of consonants and consonant clusters where one member is a "weak" grade and the other a "strong" grade. The grade pairs relevant to this text are:

strongweak
-k--Ø-
-kk--k-

NOUNS

CASES

In nominative, the plural suffix is -t. With some other case, the plural affix is -i- between the stem and the case suffix.

The cases present in this text and their functions are:

nominative–Ø1. subject of a sentence
2. object of past-tense verb
genitive-nTriggered in a time word by determiner "koko"
illative-(es)een1. movement into something
or -hin2. object of the verb "koskea"

POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES

The possessive suffix comes after the case suffix. The suffixes are:

singularplural
1-ni-mme
2-si-nne
3-nsa/-nsä-nsa/-nsä

Adding a possessive suffix will cause number-distinction and certain case forms to merge. The case form merging is not present in this text though.

ADJECTIVES

Many adjectives have prefixing intensifiers. The prefix is different for each adjective. Present in this text are:

adjectiveprefix
täynnätäpö-

PRONOUNS

The negative indeterminate pronoun "no-one" may usually listed as "ei kukaan". "Ei" in the phrase is the negation verb that links with the verb, and thus the entire sentence will just have one "ei" in front of the verb.

VERBS

Personally conjugated verbs are in the format of STEM+TM+P, where STEM is the stem, TM is a single affix for tense and mood, and P is an affix for person. The tense/mood affix varies between verb types, but the personal suffixes are:

sing.plur.
1-n-mme
2-t-tte
3*-vat/-vät

* The third person singular suffix varies between types, tenses and moods.

PERFECT AND PLUPERFECT TENSES

Perfect and pluperfect (equivalent to English "have done" and "had done") are formed by conjugating the verb "olla" (to be) for nonpast (resulting in perfect) or past (resulting in pluperfect) and appropriate person, followed by the main verb stem with a participle suffix that varies between verb types.

NEGATION USING "ei"

"Ei" (to not) is a special verb that is placed right before the negated main verb. The dictionary form of the verb is "ei", but it is actually "e" + personal suffix, with the slight irregularity that in here the suffix for third person singular is "-i" and plural "-ivät".

Since the person is now marked on the negation verb, it is not marked on the main verb anymore. When the tense is past, the negated verb is given the participle suffix, otherwise the verb is just left hanging.

TYPE I (whose infinitive ends in -Va/-Vä)

The infinitive form is stem with strong grade + infinitive suffix -a/-ä (i.e. not -Va/-Vä).

The third person singular affix for nonpast indicative and potential is vowel elongation, empty otherwise.

The tense/mood affixes are:

indicativeconditionalpotential
nonpast-Ø--isi--ne-
past-i-N/AN/A

The participle suffix is -nut/-nyt for singular and -neet for plural.

TYPE III (whose infinitive ends in -Ca/-Cä where C is l/n/r/s)

The infinitive form is stem with strong grade + infinitive suffix -Ca/-Cä.

The third person singular affix for nonpast indicative and potential is vowel elongation, empty otherwise.

The tense/mood affixes are:

indicativeconditionalpotential
nonpast-e--isi--C:e-
past-i-N/AN/A

The participle suffix if -C:ut/-C:yt for singular and -C:eet for plural.

IRREGULAR "olla"

"Olla" (to be) has some irregular forms in the third person.

singularplural
nonpast ind.onovat

TYPE IV (whose infinitive ends in -ta/-tä)

The infinitive form is stem with weak grade + infinitive suffix -ta/-tä.

The consonant grade for indicative positive is strong.

The third person singular affix for nonpast indicative and potential is vowel elongation, empty otherwise.

The tense/mood affixes are:

indicativeconditionalpotential
nonpast-a--isi--nne-
past-si-N/AN/A