These words are often some sort of tools or machines, and they are usually derived from a verb. Actually, a lot of times they are
homonyms with the first person singular past:
pakastin means both
a freezer and
I froze. The basic form of the verb is
pakastaa.
These are the four important forms of
avain:
- basic form avain: Kenen avain tämä on? - Whose key is this?
- genitive avaimen: Mihin mä olen laittanut mun avaimen? - Where have I put my key?
- partitive avainta: Et tarvitse avainta.- You won't need a key.
- plural partitive avaimia: Oletko nähnyt mun avaimia? - Have you seen my keys?
In plural form, the
e disappears before the
i.
- elative: Haluaisin teettää näistä avaimista lisäkappaleita. - I'd like to have extra copies made of these keys.
- adessive: Mihin näillä avaimilla pääsee? - Where can you get with these keys?
Be aware of the possible consonant change:
- Minulla on uusi levysoitin! - I have a new record player!
- Mistä sinä ostit tuon levysoittimen? - Where did you buy that record player?
- Meillä ei ole levysoitinta. - We don't have a record player.
- Onko teillä levysoittimia? - Do you have record players?
You probably already know
puhelin (a phone) and
kirjain (a letter as in abc), but how about these ones?
Keittiössä - in the kitchen:
- pakastin, kahvinkeitin, leivänpaahdin, sauvasekoitin, sähkövatkain - a freezer, a coffee maker, a toaster, a stick blender / an immersion blender, an electric mixer
Toimistossa - in the office:
- teroitin, viivotin, rei'itin - a sharpener, a ruler, a hole punch (Notice the cool spelling with the apostrophe!)
Autossa - in the car:
- kytkin, kaasupoljin, varashälytin - a clutch, an accelerator pedal, a burglar alarm
The superlative forms of the adjectives also end with
in, but that's another story and the
declension follows a slightly different pattern. (Instead of in>ime, it's in>imma, in case you wonder.)
- huono: Tuo oli vuoden huonoin idea! - That was the worst idea of the year!
- kallis: Tämä oli kallein suklaarasia, minkä löysin Prismasta. - This was the most expensive box of chocolates that I found in Prisma.
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