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The weirdest thing about Finnish cases is the counter-intuitive nature (to a speaker of almost any indo-european language). For example: "dog" is "koira", "I li

The weirdest thing about Finnish cases is the counter-intuitive nature (to a speaker of almost any indo-european language). For example: "dog" is "koira", "I like" is "pidän"; "I like the dog"? — "Pidän koirasta", which is using the "-sta/stä" ending of the elative case, which usually means "from". So, it's "I like from the dog". It doesn't end here... * Tulin Norjasta — I came from Norway. * Pidän Norjasta — I like Norway. * Puhu Norjasta — Talk about Norway. How come the same case is used in these?! "Löytyy apteekista" — "Can be found at the pharmacy", literally "Find from the pharmacy". Saying "Löytyy apteekissa", which would literally mean "find at the pharmacy" is grammatically incorrect. So, yeah, Finnish grammar is nicely structured and consistent, but sometimes it just goes against intuition of speakers of other languages.

vnorilo 4y ago
"Pidän koiraa" - I am holding (or keeping) a dog (for now). The case roughly translates to: some (of). "Pidän koiran" - I will keep the dog (for good). "Pitää" is one of these ancient words that means many things, but primarily: to hold, and Finns apparently think that to like something is to hold that which comes out of it! You would still say that the man is in the pharmacy (mies on apteekissa) but the stuff he found is from it (lääkkeet apteekista).
Ekaros 4y ago
I think pharmacy is just thinking different. If something is found at pharmacy and you are buying them you are anyway taking them out from there. "I bought the drugs from the pharmacy" Ostin lääkkeet apteekista. "Drugs are at pharmacy" lääkeet ovat apteekissa.
CRConrad 4y ago
> Pidän koirasta", which is using the "-sta/stä" ending of the elative case, which usually means "from". So, it's "I like from the dog". I find it helps to think of it as "I think highly of the dog". Or in Swedish, "Jag håller av hunden". Which, come to think of it, is pretty much a literal word for word translation -- because the base meaning of "pidä" is "to hold", not "to like".

vnorilo 4y ago

"Pidän koiraa" - I am holding (or keeping) a dog (for now). The case roughly translates to: some (of). "Pidän koiran" - I will keep the dog (for good). "Pitää" is one of these ancient words that means many things, but primarily: to hold, and Finns apparently think that to like something is to hold that which comes out of it! You would still say that the man is in the pharmacy (mies on apteekissa) but the stuff he found is from it (lääkkeet apteekista).

Ekaros 4y ago

I think pharmacy is just thinking different. If something is found at pharmacy and you are buying them you are anyway taking them out from there. "I bought the drugs from the pharmacy" Ostin lääkkeet apteekista. "Drugs are at pharmacy" lääkeet ovat apteekissa.

CRConrad 4y ago

> Pidän koirasta", which is using the "-sta/stä" ending of the elative case, which usually means "from". So, it's "I like from the dog". I find it helps to think of it as "I think highly of the dog". Or in Swedish, "Jag håller av hunden". Which, come to think of it, is pretty much a literal word for word translation -- because the base meaning of "pidä" is "to hold", not "to like".