Murdochin kuuleminen.....

[Rob A.]

— Kuinka paljon olet juonut olutta? — Vain yhden pullollisen!

The Viivi ja Wagner Rob was referring to was probably the following, and your example fits pretty well to it:

...Yes...that was the one...

[jahasjahas]

Thanks... I didn't think using the partitive monia kissoja was right... I suppose I was thinking that because I was talking about "non-specific" cats, I needed the partitive case. but moni is an indefinite modifier.... sort of a non-specfic number of specific cats, so to speak...

I might be too tired to figure out the grammatical side of things, but "monia kissoja" would work in, for example, "Monia kissoja tuntuu kiinnostavan laatikoihin ja muihin ahtaisiin paikkoihin ryömiminen." The cats are the object this time, not the subject, right?

With simpler examples:
Kissat pitävät ryömimisestä.
Kissoja kiinnostaa ryömiminen. <-> Ryömiminen kiinnostaa kissoja.

I see you used the word, ahdas= "narrow"...I was thinking about the verbal participle "enclosed", but I couldn't find the Finnish equivalent of that word, though I didn't look too hard..

Oh, that's what you were aiming at. Enclosed space could be suljettu tila. Although "suljettu tila" sounds to me like something that's inaccessible, since it's, you know, closed. (Btw, saarrettu paikka = a besieged place; saartanut paikka = a place that... has besieged something else?)

Yeah..I thought that might be a possibility...

To be more specific, kontata means to crawl on all fours, as performed by babies and drunks.

[Rob A.]

Thanks

Thanks... I didn't think using the partitive monia kissoja was right... I suppose I was thinking that because I was talking about "non-specific" cats, I needed the partitive case. but moni is an indefinite modifier.... sort of a non-specfic number of specific cats, so to speak...

I might be too tired to figure out the grammatical side of things, but "monia kissoja" would work in, for example, "Monia kissoja tuntuu kiinnostavan laatikoihin ja muihin ahtaisiin paikkoihin ryömiminen." The cats are the object this time, not the subject, right?

Yeah...I guess I'm tired too... As a general statement if a phrase which appears to be a subject is in the partitive it will likely be grammatically construed as an object of the sentence... I'm trying to think of a situation were that would not be so, but I can't, at the moment....

The "clue" seems to be a verb in the third person singular which, in English, would usually be one of those impersonal "it is..."; "there is..."; "they are..." type of constructions... Finnish existential sentences are "classic" examples of this ....where any action the verb might be indicating is not really the main theme of the sentence, but rather the theme is some factual situation from the point of view of an "external observer".

I see you used the word, ahdas= "narrow"...I was thinking about the verbal participle "enclosed", but I couldn't find the Finnish equivalent of that word, though I didn't look too hard..

Oh, that's what you were aiming at. Enclosed space could be suljettu tila. Although "suljettu tila" sounds to me like something that's inaccessible, since it's, you know, closed. (Btw, saarrettu paikka = a besieged place; saartanut paikka = a place that... has besieged something else?)

OK...I guess Finnish is probably a bit more "literal" than English...sometimes "enclosed" can mean "partially enclosed" if the sense of the statement seems to require that...

Yeah..I thought that might be a possibility...

To be more specific, kontata means to crawl on all fours, as performed by babies and drunks.

[Pursuivant]

— Kuinka paljon olet juonut olutta? — Vain yhden pullollisen!

That was a good one when the 1-litre glass bottles first came out...

[skandagupta]

how about a mäyräkatti?

OK...time for a little language practice...

Monia kissoja tuntuvat pitää konttaavasta laatikkoihin ja toisia saartaneita paikkoja....Does anyone want to tell me if this is comprehensible or not? ...

Moni kissa tuntuu pitävän laatikoihin ja muihin hankaliin/("saarrettuihin") paikkoihin änkeämisestä.

[Jukka Aho]

Moni kissa tuntuu pitävän laatikoihin ja muihin hankaliin/("saarrettuihin") paikkoihin änkeämisestä.

Ujuttautumisesta would also work. I leave it for you guys to explain what that verb means in English, exactly... and with the nuances covered.

[Rob A.]

how about a mäyräkatti?

OK...time for a little language practice...

Monia kissoja tuntuvat pitää konttaavasta laatikkoihin ja toisia saartaneita paikkoja....Does anyone want to tell me if this is comprehensible or not? ...

Moni kissa tuntuu pitävän laatikoihin ja muihin hankaliin/("saarrettuihin") paikkoihin änkeämisestä.

Thanks...I didn't think about it but according to wiktionary...See the "Usage Notes".., the version I used is a spoken form,[Edit: I seem to have totally confused myself ... my original version was incorrect...it was the partitive...the plural spoken form would be Monet kissat tuntuvat...]... the other version the spoken form... Moni is a collective pronoun and carries a plural sense, the noun and verb following are singular in the written form... I suppose it's no different to saying, "Every cat is here." Though the English equivalent of moni kissa on... gets a bit complicated. It can be, for example, "Many a cat is..." or, "Many cats are..."

Moni kissa tuntuu pitävän laatikoihin ja muihin hankaliin/("saarrettuihin") paikkoihin änkeämisestä.

Ujuttautumisesta would also work. I leave it for you guys to explain what that verb means in English, exactly... and with the nuances covered.

One verb might be "to insinuate"

The following is from wikitionary:

# To creep, wind, or flow into.
# To enter gently, slowly, or imperceptibly, as into crevices.

The water insinuated itself into the rock. It became ice, which expanded and cracked large fragments off of the hard stone.