unusual double verb phrases

Osbi · Post by **Osbi** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:07 am

I thought I've seen all of the different ways of following a verb with a verb, but, while reading to myself a Finnish childrens' book, I came across two instances I couldn't figure out.

"Se uida polski kovaa vauhtia"

"Samassa ankkavaari tulla taapersi nurmikon poikki"

Why are uida and tulla in the infinitive? And why are they even in the sentences, don't they make sense without these words? I don't understand why a verb in the infinitive would follow a 3rd person singular noun or pronoun. My husband was no help other than to say, 'it just works like that, I don't know why.'

**Sponsor:**

Satish · Post by **Satish** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:22 am

I think what you have come across is the 'colorative' construct. The following paper should be quite interesting!

http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/julkais ... KYTOLA.pdf

EP · Post by EP » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:50 am

My old browser didn´t open that ling.helsinki.fi page, so I don´t know what it says.

Se uida polski kovaa vauhtia.
Se ui kovaa vauhtia.
Se polski kovaa vauhtia.

They all mean the same, the first one just has more colour.

Same here:

Samassa ankkavaari tulla taapersi nurmikon poikki.
Samassa ankkavaari tuli nurmikon poikki.
Samassa ankkavaari taapersi nurmikon poikki.

EP · Post by EP » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:53 am

And "polski" and "taapersi" have more colour than just "ui" and "tuli". "Ui" and "tuli" just tell what what was happening, "polski" and "taapersi" also tell in what fashion it was happening.

Satish · Post by **Satish** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:42 pm

EP wrote:My old browser didn´t open that ling.helsinki.fi page, so I don´t know what it says.

Hope this works. http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/julkaisut/SKY2007/ The PDF should then be downloadable..

Do the sentences mean:

He/She/It swam splashing about like crazy?
The same grandfather duck toddled / waddled across the lawn?

EP · Post by EP » Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:02 pm

He/She/It swam splashing about like crazy?

No, not like crazy, more like leasurely splashing around. For example small children don´t "ui", they "polskivat". They have their hands in the bottom sand, and their feet are kicking the water.

rob34 · Post by **rob34** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:30 pm

Thanks for posting that.

I guess it is very straightforward to understand... in a Finnish way

"It, to come, went across the field."

I'd have previously probably said "now that's not correct Finnish"

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:23 pm

Silly people. Its the -ing form of English.

The duck came waddling across the lawn.
It swam splashing in the water.

The construct of Finnish though has it as "swimming splashily"

Satish · Post by **Satish** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:25 pm

EP wrote:
He/She/It swam splashing about like crazy?
No, not like crazy, more like leasurely splashing around.

Where does the colour "leisurely" comes from? To me, polskia definitely has a leisurely meaning to it but then kovaa vauhtiaa gives a sense of speed and purpose..

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:27 pm

More sound and effort used than talent

Satish · Post by **Satish** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:32 pm

Pursuivant wrote:More sound and effort used than talent

ha ha ha...Being such a poor swimmer... I definitely get that concept...

Se uida polski kovaa vauhtia indeed

Finland Forum

Find information about moving to, living in and life in Finland