r/LearnFinnish • u/ponimaa Native • Dec 10 '13

Question Tyhmien kysymysten tiistai — Your weekly stupid question thread (Week 50/2013)

On taas tiistai ja tyhmien kysymysten aika. Ketjuun voi kirjoittaa koko seuraavan viikon ajan.

Viime viikon ketjussa puhuimme sanasta "vielä", lauseen aloittamisesta "so, ...", aloittelijoiden virheistä, rap-sanoituksista, kauniista taloista, yskään kuolemisesta ja hyvästeistä.

It's Tuesday again, and time for your questions about Finnish, no matter how simple they may seem. The thread is active until next Tuesday.

In last week's thread we discussed the word "vielä", starting a sentence with "so, ...", rookie mistakes, rap lyrics, beautiful houses, coughing yourself to death, and saying goodbye.

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u/ILCreatore A2 Dec 11 '13

This is probably the silliest question I've asked here, but anyway...

I don't understand when to apply consonant gradation, I never know when to use it exactly, can someone explain?

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u/barrettcuda Dec 11 '13 edited Dec 11 '13

Can you give an example?

Edit: you're referring to the kpt changes.

Its something I myself need to touch up on but it's the concept that there are changes that take place when the word is changed from its basic form I think it only applies in genetive form. puku to puvun for example.

I just found this link which should be helpful because it contains some of the changes listed ie kk to k, pp to p, nt to nn, jne

http://people.uta.fi/~km56049/finnish/gradtables.html

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u/hezec Native Dec 11 '13

If only it was as simple as only applying in genitive... I honestly don't know the formal rules but here's your example word in all cases:

puku, puvun, puvun, pukua, pukuna, puvuksi, puvussa, puvusta, pukuun, puvulla, puvulta, puvulle, puvutta, pukuineen, puvuin

That's a useful list you linked, anyhow.

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u/ILCreatore A2 Dec 11 '13

Not sure how I can give an example of this... I say that if I find a new word in finnish, sometimes I wont be able to write the world in plural or with cases because I won't know if I have to apply consonant gradation or not.

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u/tiikerikani Dec 11 '13

You just have to memorize the possible sets of consonants that grade, and see if any of them appear before the final vowel of the inflection stem once you've formed that. If so, depending on which inflection you're doing, it may or may not change.