Uhata

[Rob A.]

A new verb for me...uhata.....and I have a question.....

I found this headline:

Kolmas myrsky uhkaa Suomea.....since newspaper headlines are about sensationalism, it didn't take long to figure out what, uhkaa meant....though it wasn't exactly easy....

I know about the disappearing "k" with consonant gradation....but what clues would a native speaker see in this word, uhkaa, that would lead to the verb infinitive taking the form...uhata??....

I suspect the main clues are the double "a" and the single "k"....but, then, there is the verb, hohkata, which superficially looks similar, but does not seem to attract consonant gradation in any of its forms....why would it not take a verb infinitive, *hohata.....

[rob34]

Inge covers this pretty well...

see:
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/verbtype4cg.html
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/consonantgradation2.html

[rob34]

Inge covers this pretty well...

see:
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/verbtype4cg.html
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/consonantgradation2.html

and as far as hohkata... I can't really remember a rule for it... it's just the way it is... consonants following "h" don't seem to be reverse-doubled... at least nothing off the top of my head...

there's some verbs that you just end up learning. but once you learn enough of them, then you don't think of it anymore... it's just "huh, it just makes sense this way..."

[Rob A.]

Inge covers this pretty well...

see:
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/verbtype4cg.html
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/consonantgradation2.html

and as far as hohkata... I can't really remember a rule for it... it's just the way it is... consonants following "h" don't seem to be reverse-doubled... at least nothing off the top of my head...

there's some verbs that you just end up learning. but once you learn enough of them, then you don't think of it anymore... it's just "huh, it just makes sense this way..."

Thanks... and, yes, it's always a good idea to remember that the Finnish "h" is...as it seems in most other languages, ....a bit of a special letter.... More digging around yielded this site by Jukka Korpela.... it even specifically mentions the verb, uhata, as a bit of a special case....no wonder my "analytical mind" was having "conniptions"....

This excerpt is from near the bottom of the page:

..."most words with the hk combination, e.g. lahko : lahkon, though some words have gradation always (uhkaan : uhata) or in some language forms (vihko : vihon or vihkon); note that this is actually not an exception to the general rule, since Finnish h is unvoiced before k; rather, it is an exception that k has gradation in some words after h."