# heittää + partitive



## Gavril

The verb _heittää_ can sometimes take the person being aimed at as its object, rather than the projectile being thrown:

_Heitin miestä kivellä._ "I threw a stone at the man"

Would it also be possible to say,

_Heitin kiven mieheen/miehelle._

and would that have a different meaning than the first sentence?

One other question: can you say,

_Heitin seinää kivellä_ "I threw a stone at the wall"

or does the partitive object of _heittää_ have to be a person/animate?

Kiiiitos!


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## sakvaka

Gavril said:


> The verb _heittää_ can sometimes take the person being aimed at as its object, rather than the projectile being thrown:
> 
> _Heitin miestä kivellä._ "I threw a stone at the man"
> 
> Would it also be possible to say,
> 
> _Heitin kiven mieheen/miehelle._
> 
> and would that have a different meaning than the first sentence?
> 
> One other question: can you say,
> 
> _Heitin seinää kivellä_ "I threw a stone at the wall"
> 
> or does the partitive object of _heittää_ have to be a person/animate?
> 
> Kiiiitos!



_Heitin kiven mieheen_ is possible when you are performing an autopsy (or post-mortem, how you like it) and you literally throw a stone inside him.

_Heitin kiven miehelle_ involves a very common use of the word 'heittää'. This phrase suggests that the man catches the stone. (In English, it would be rendered as 'I threw a/the stone TO the man', wouldn't it?)

_Heitin seinää kivellä_ is also possible and sounds good.


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## Gavril

sakvaka said:


> _Heitin kiven mieheen_ is possible when you are performing an autopsy (or post-mortem, how you like it) and you literally throw a stone inside him.
> 
> _Heitin kiven miehelle_ involves a very common use of the word 'heittää'. This phrase suggests that the man catches the stone. (In English, it would be rendered as 'I threw a/the stone TO the man', wouldn't it?)
> 
> _Heitin seinää kivellä_ is also possible and sounds good.



So, would these translations be correct?

_Heittää seinää kivellä_ "Throw a stone at the wall"

_Heittää kivi seinään_ "Throw a stone into the wall" (creating a dent or other mark in the wall)

_Heittää kivi seinälle_ "Throw a stone to the wall" (so that the wall can catch the stone )

If you want to translate "throw X at Y" into Finnish, would _heittää_ Y:_tA_ X:_llA_ be the main way of doing so?

Kiitos taas kerran


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## sakvaka

Gavril said:


> So, would these translations be correct?
> 
> _Heittää seinää kivellä_ "Throw a stone at the wall"
> 
> _Heittää kivi seinään_ "Throw a stone into the wall" (creating a dent or other mark in the wall)
> 
> _Heittää kivi seinälle_ "Throw a stone to the wall" (so that the wall can catch the stone )
> 
> If you want to translate "throw X at Y" into Finnish, would _heittää_ Y:_tA_ X:_llA_ be the main way of doing so?
> 
> Kiitos taas kerran



Yes, yes, yes, yes. But in my view there's a very minor distinction between _heittää kivi seinään_ and _heittää kivi seinälle_. After all, if a wall can really catch your stone, it must have a sticky surface and then, surprisingly, both prepositions are equally acceptable. I'd use the illative in standard cases, but if the stone is meant to be a decoration, allative is OK. (Does any one of other Finns sense a similar difference?)

Btw, you could also use the word _viskata_ (viskaan, imp. viskasin; in English 'strew/hurl').


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> So, would these translations be correct?
> 
> _Heittää seinää kivellä_ "Throw a stone at the wall" Grammatically correct but sounds strange. "Heittää ihmistä/eläintä kivellä" is OK.
> 
> _Heittää kivi seinään_ "Throw a stone into the wall" (creating a dent or other mark in the wall) OK, a common expression
> 
> _Heittää kivi seinälle_ "Throw a stone to the wall" (so that the wall can catch the stone ) Grammatically correct but sounds very strange. "Heittää kivi katolle" is a common phrase meaning that the stone stays on the roof, but normally a stone can't stay on the wall.
> 
> If you want to translate "throw X at Y" into Finnish, would _heittää_ Y:_tA_ X:_llA_ be the main way of doing so? I wouldn't say it's the main way, or at least you can be mislead. For example "heittää vettä rannalla" means "to pee on the beach", not "to throw the beach to the water".


_Heittää_ is a multisense word that can be used in many different ways. I'm sorry I can't explain it better.


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## akana

Can you use heittää in a similar way as ampua? For example:

Ammuin lintua. (I shot *at* the bird)
Ammuin linnun. (I shot the bird dead.)

Heitin Pekan tyynyllä. (I threw a pillow at Pekka, and hit him.)
Heitin Pekkaa tyynyllä. (I threw a pillow at Pekka.)

Or how would you make the distinction between attempting and actually succeeding?

Kiitos!


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## Hakro

akana said:


> Can you use heittää in a similar way as ampua? For example:
> 
> Ammuin lintua. (I shot *at* the bird)
> Ammuin linnun. (I shot the bird dead.)
> 
> Heitin Pekan tyynyllä. (I threw a pillow at Pekka, and hit him.) Heitin Pekkaa tyynyllä ja osuin.
> Heitin Pekkaa tyynyllä. (I threw a pillow at Pekka.)


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