# moni/monet/muutama/muutamat



## 盲人瞎馬

Muutamien kaupassa käyneiden ihmisten on sanottu...
Some of the people who went to the market have been said to...

Muutaman kaupassa käyneen ihmisen on sanottu...
Some people who went to the market have been said to...

Monilla ihmisillä on...
Many of the people have...

Monella ihmisellä on...
Many people have...

Muutamia kavereitani kiinnostaa muutaman osallistujan tekemä X koska useille katsojille usea asia/useita asioita näkyi. (I know, super retarded phrase. Just wrote it to make sure I got everything right.
Some of my buddies were interested about the X made by some participants because to many of the viewers many things/many of the things were seen.

Could any Finn make sure I got it all correctly?
Thanks.


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## Spongiformi

I know it's just my personal preference, but in my opinion "_muutama_" == "a few". "_Muutamat_" matches "some", of course, since it multiplies "_muutama_".

Muutaman kaupassa käyneen ihmisen on sanottu...
A few people who went to the market have been said to...


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## Hakro

Vitalore said:


> Muutamia kavereitani kiinnostaa muutaman osallistujan tekemä X koska useille katsojille usea asia/useita asioita näkyi.
> (I know, super retarded phrase. Just wrote it to make sure I got everything right.)
> Some of my buddies were interested about the X made by some participants because to many of the viewers many things/many of the things were seen.


All your phrases are grammatically correct although the sentence above sounds a bit strange, especially for the word order.

Besides, I have originally learned that _muutama = muudan = muuan = eräs = yksi_, but already a long time ago the singular word _muutama_ became to mean more than one persons or things. Anyway, I always use plural _muutamia, muutamat,_ if I mean several persons or things. But that's my problem.


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## Gavril

Spongiformi said:


> I know it's just my personal preference, but in my opinion "_muutama_" == "a few". "_Muutamat_" matches "some", of course, since it multiplies "_muutama_".



Out of curiosity, do _muutama _and _muutamat _both suggest a specific range of numbers to you? (For example, does _muutama _normally mean a number between 2-5 and _muutamat _a number higher than 5?)

Also, what about _moni _vs. _monet_? Vitalore asked about this in the original question and I've never been completely clear on this distinction myself.

Kiitos vielä kerran


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## Spongiformi

Personally I rarely use "_muutama"_ to mean anything else but 3, sometimes 4. If somebody says to me: _"Ota muutama lapio mukaan"_, I'd take 3, without exception (unless I knew beforehand four people are going to be present, in which case I would deduce the other person could mean four with his _"muutama"_). _"Muutamat"_, however, doesn't really mean anything specific to me, as long as it's more than 4 and, let's say, less than 10.

I'm beginning to feel I'm not qualified to answer the question about "_moni" _vs _"monet"._ The latter gives kind of a more plentiful feeling, but otherwise it seems to me it makes little difference, as long as you remember to adjust the other words to the plural form if "_monet_" is used. So, I won't second any claim they should be consistently translated in a certain way. Some sayings and expressions require specifically one or the other, naturally.


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## 盲人瞎馬

Spongiformi said:


> Personally I rarely use "_muutama"_ to mean anything else but 3, sometimes 4. If somebody says to me: _"Ota muutama lapio mukaan"_, I'd take 3, without exception (unless I knew beforehand four people are going to be present, in which case I would deduce the other person could mean four with his _"muutama"_). _"Muutamat"_, however, doesn't really mean anything specific to me, as long as it's more than 4 and, let's say, less than 10.
> 
> I'm beginning to feel I'm not qualified to answer the question about "_moni" _vs _"monet"._ The latter gives kind of a more plentiful feeling, but otherwise it seems to me it makes little difference, as long as you remember to adjust the other words to the plural form if "_monet_" is used. So, I won't second any claim they should be consistently translated in a certain way. Some sayings and expressions require specifically one or the other, naturally.



Will it sound weird if I were to leave monet (and muutamat) only for plurale tantum nouns?

Monta ihmistä kiinnosti - Many people were interested
Moniin synttäreihin vaikutti - Many birthday parties were affected

And never Monia ihmisiä kiinnosti when you can just said monta ihmistä.

Are you following me? It just seems utterly unnecessary to use monet with non-plurale tantum nouns. If anything, it (monet instead of moni) stresses that there really are MANY people (more than moni can express).


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## Spongiformi

Yeah, that's perfectly cool. I hadn't even thought about plurale tantum nouns... A good catch indeed.

As has been made clearly evident, for different people muutama (and muutamat) means different things, so nobody could blame you of anything if you did the same with them as with moni/monet. So, rest at ease.


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## 盲人瞎馬

Spongiformi said:


> Yeah, that's perfectly cool. I hadn't even thought about plurale tantum nouns... A good catch indeed.
> 
> As has been made clearly evident, for different people muutama (and muutamat) means different things, so nobody could blame you of anything if you did the same with them as with moni/monet. So, rest at ease.



Do you yourself see any difference between monia ihmisiä kiinnosti and monta ihmistä kiinnosti?


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## Spongiformi

No. No difference for me whatsoever.


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