Teetä

Teetä is the partitive singular form of the Finnish noun tee, meaning tea. It refers to an indefinite or unspecified amount of tea and is used as the direct object with verbs such as juoda (to drink) and haluta (to want). For example: Juon teetä. Haluaisitko teetä?

In Finnish grammar, teetä appears in sentences where the object is partitive: with verbs of consumption, in negations, or when the amount is not specified. Examples: En juonut teetä (I did not drink any tea), Voisitko antaa teetä? (Could you give me some tea?). The form teetä signals non-countable quantity or a portion rather than a defined whole.

Etymology and morphology: tee is the Finnish word for tea, borrowed from Swedish te. The partitive teetä is formed by adding the partitive ending -tä to the stem tee, with the vowel pattern adjusted for Finnish phonology. The result is the standard form used after many verbs and in expressions involving tea.

Usage and variants: teetä is commonly encountered in everyday language. Common combinations include mustaa teetä (black tea) and vihreää teetä (green tea) in the partitive, as well as yrttiteetä (herbal tea). Phrases like teetä ilman sokeria (tea without sugar) illustrate its role in specifying quantity and modifiers in colloquial speech.

See also: tee (Finnish word for tea).