Finnish grammar...

and the lack of understanding. I did a Finnish language exam today, part of my course in the university. Helped by a complete lack of study, I'm sure that I managed to make a complete hash of it. My problem is that I understand the basic concepts of what we're studying e.g. superlative, comparative (that's big, bigger and biggest) - suuri, suurempi, and suurin are the Finnish translations. Easy enough eh? Loud, louder and loudest: kova, kovempi and kovin. Getting the hang of this, what's all the fuss about, then? Erm but: The biggest house is over there - suurin talo on tuolla; The biggest houses are over there - suurimmat talot ovat tuolla; Have you seen the biggest houses? - Oletko nähnyt suurimpia taloja? The adjective changes and has to agree with the subject. There are three types of plurals and wonderful things like genitives (No, no, no! not round hairy things...) illative and ablative. Thirteen different forms of superlative and comparative, with lots of rule-proving exceptions. It's like building a pyramid, and having to have the exact details of every stone and how it links to the others in order to go up. I can use the basic language on a daily basis, but if I try to form my sentences properly, with the correct rules of agreement, I'm likely to create a load of genetives (!?!). Luckily spoken and grammatically correct Finnish are two different sides of the same coin, so I'm opting for the 'experience is the best teacher' and not worrying too much about perfect construction. Except of course when I'm quietly cursing under my breath in an exam.