--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "aquila_grande" <aquila_grande@...>
wrote:
> Hän ajoi autoa means either: He was driving a car, or he was
driving
> the car, or he was driving a part of the car.
>
My first choice in translations for this would not be - He was
driving a (or the) part of the car.
However if we use a different verb such as 'purkaa' dismantles, we
can have;
He dismantles a car, he dismantles the car, he dismantles a part of
the car, he dismantles the part of the car, or he dismantles some of
the car.
In this case we do not know exactly why 'autoa' a/the/some/part of
the car, is in the partitive case. It could be one car of a larger
collection of all the cars, or it could be the collection which
comprises all the parts that are being dismantled.
Translating from Finnish without articles to English with, allows
some choices, especially if there is no previous or further content
to guide us.
Were I to translate - I drive (am driving) a car. I would say - Ajan
autoa.
To me 'a car' means one undefined car of many, almost in the same way
as 'autoa' (sing partitive) means one of the collection of all
possible cars. It is true that if we had somehow previouly defined
the car then it could be 'the car', out of the collection of all
possible cars.
Peter