# to live (in a place) : animal vs. human subject



## Gavril

(from the other thread)



Gavril said:


> E.g., if someone asks "Missä karhut asuvat?", and you point to (or  gesture towards) a mountain far off in the distance, could you say  "siellä" (or "siellä päin") as you're doing so?





Määränpää said:


> (By the way, do animals _asua _in scientific language?)



I don't know. Have you seen a different verb or verbs used in this type of context?


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## altazure

My gut feeling is that _asua_ is something humans do, in a house  or some other built shelter, sleeping, cooking food, and so on.  Sometimes you can see it used for animals too, but that is usually meant  poetic, or to make them seem more human-like and relatable.

I  don't know about scientific language of biology, but I would probably  say "Missä karhut elävät?", although that seems more like a general  question ("where do bears (generally) live?"), or "Missä karhuja on?".


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## Hakro

altazure said:


> My gut feeling is that _asua_ is something humans do, in a house  or some other built shelter, sleeping, cooking food, and so on.  Sometimes you can see it used for animals too, but that is usually meant  poetic, or to make them seem more human-like and relatable.


Nykysuomen sanakirja gives as an example _Huuhkaja asuu synkissä metsissä_. I don't see any poetic or fairylike meaning in it.


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## Määränpää

Hakro said:


> Nykysuomen sanakirja gives as an example _Huuhkaja asuu synkissä metsissä_. I don't see any poetic or fairylike meaning in it.


Maybe not poetic, but _synkissä metsissä _sounds creative and expressive.


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