Section8.9 Major Moods 1: Finnish
The following declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences are from Finnish,
a European language that is not a member of the Indo-European language family.
Consider the Finnish sentences and their English translations, and answer questions
A-D.
Finnish words exhibit vowel harmony. Thus, the vowels in suffixes vary,
depending on the quality of the vowels of the words to which they are attached.
In this exercise certain suffixes will therefore appear in two different forms, but
they are to be considered as two different versions of the same morpheme. The
vowel a is a low front unrounded vowel; the vowel o is a mid front rounded
vowel; and the vowel y is a high front rounded vowel. A sequence of two identical
vowels represents a long vowel of the same quality. (Hint: One way of marking
the third person singular subject in Finnish is by lengthening the final vowel of the
verb.)
The words in parentheses are optional.Finnish sentence English gloss- He juovat maitoa hitaasti.
- Haluanko (mina) teeta?
- Rouva Joki pitaa kahvista.
- Syo kalaa!
- Juovatko he olutta?
- (Mina) tarvitsen kupit tana iltana.
- Juovatko he maitoa hitaasti?
- Han haluaa kahvia.
- (Mina) haluan mehua.
- (Sina) juot maitoa tana iltana.
- Pitaako Rouva Joki kahvista?
- Haluaako han kahvia?
- Juokaa teeta!
- Tarvitsenko (mina) kupit tana iltana?
- Syokaa kalaa!
- Juoko han nyt olutta?
- Juo olutta!
- (Mina) haluan teeta.
- Han juo nyt olutta.
- Juotko (sina) maitoa tana iltana?
"They are drinking milk slowly."
"DO I want tea?"
"Mrs. Joki likes coffee."
"Eat fish!" (familiar sg.)
"Are they drinking beer?"
"I need the cups tonight."
"Are they drinking milk slowly?"
"He/She wants coffee."
"I want (some) juice."
"You are drinking milk this evening."
"Does Mrs. Joki like coffee?"
"Does he/she want coffee?"
"Drink tea!" (formal sg. or familiar pl.)
"Do I need cups tonight?" ai
"Eat fish!" (formal sg. or familiar pl.) S 2
"Is he/she drinking beer now?" a F
"Drink (some) beer!" (familiar sg.) C c
"I want (some) tea." a^0
"He/She is drinking beer now." E I
"Are you drinking milk tonight?" T- a 0 CU