The singular partitive and adjectives

When is the singular partitive used? (5)

• After numbers (except for one)

• After a word that expressed quantity (e.g. many)

• When an uncountable quantity is expressed

• After partitive verbs

• After wishes, greetings + explanatinos

Forming the singular partitive

• -a/ä, -ta/tä or tta/ttä

• Partitive ending is attached to the strong stem (so don’t need to worry about consonant gradation)

Forming the singular partitive: 3 ways

• Word ends in single vowel → + -a/-ä

• Words ends in two vowels or a consonant → + -ta/-tä

• Word ends in single e → + -tta/-ttä

• Non-Finnish words → + -a/-ä (add an i before the suffix if words ends in a consonant)

Tricky examples

• yö → yötä (cuz y counts as the first vowel)

• yksi → doesn’t change

Millainen se on?

What is it like?

Millainen kirja on?

How is the book?

It’s good / The book is good.

Se on hyvä. / Kirja on hyvä.

kuuma - kylmä vs lämmin - viileä

• kuuma - kylmä is more extreme

Note on pitkä – lyhyt

• pitkä is only used as tall for people

• so not used to talk about height of things like buildings

• in other contexts, it means long (e.g. the snake is long)

pinkki vsv aaleanpunainen

• bright vs light pink

Mikä sun lempiväri on?

What is your favourite colour?

How to answer “what is your favourite colour?”

E.g. Punainen. / Mun lempiväri on punainen.

What is lempi- ?

You can use "lempi-" with different nouns to express your favorite.

E.g.

• lempivuodenaika (favorite season)

• lempikirja (favorite book)

• lempijäätelö (favorite ice cream)