Lehmät/lehmiä

[neutrinox]

Hei!

How do I explain to my english speaking girlfriend the difference of lehmät and lehmiä. Both are plurals, but they are very different. Does anyone know the grammar rules for that?

For example I can say "tuolla on lehmiä" if I see cows somewhere. If I say "tuolla on lehmät" it implies that those cows are owned by me (or maybe talked about earlier). I can also say "lehmät ovat viisaita eläimiä" but saying "lehmiä ovat viisaita eläimiä" sounds crazy.

What is the grammar here?

[Jukka Aho]

How do I explain to my english speaking girlfriend the difference of lehmät and lehmiä. Both are plurals, but they are very different. Does anyone know the grammar rules for that?

For example I can say "tuolla on lehmiä" if I see cows somewhere. If I say "tuolla on lehmät" it implies that those cows are owned by me (or maybe talked about earlier). I can also say "lehmät ovat viisaita eläimiä" but saying "lehmiä ovat viisaita eläimiä" sounds crazy.

Well, you almost cracked it... this is an oversimplification, but you could begin by explaining “Tuolla on lehmiä” means “There are some cows over there” and “Tuolla ovat lehmät” (or rather “Lehmät ovat tuolla”) means “The cows are over there.”

What is the grammar here?

See the articles here, under the category “The Finnish cases” / “The partitive”.

If your girlfriend is serious about learning Finnish you might want to consider getting her a real grammar book, such as Karlsson’s Finnish – An Essential Grammar.