Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Finnish

When you want to ask "what kind of" something is, or "what is it like?", Finnish gives you two interchangeable question words: **millainen** and **minkälainen**. Both are used to ask for a description or to discover the qualities of a person or thing.

### Using Millainen

**Millainen** is the most standard way to ask "what kind of". Because it asks about qualities, it acts like an adjective. You will usually place it directly before the noun you are asking about, or pair it with the verb *olla* (to be).

{{item:921319}}

{{item:921324}}

{{item:921337}}

### Using Minkälainen

**Minkälainen** means exactly the same thing as *millainen* and is used in the exact same way. You can choose whichever you prefer, though *minkälainen* is very common in everyday spoken Finnish.

{{item:921322}}

{{item:921338}}

{{item:921334}}

### Answering with Qualities

To answer a *millainen* or *minkälainen* question, you simply provide a descriptive adjective. In this lesson, you will practice describing circus performances using adjectives like *notkea* (flexible), *peloton* (fearless), and *hämmästyttävä* (amazing).

{{item:921339}}

{{item:921330}}

Asking what kind (millainen, minkälainen)

adjective

adposition

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (tämä, tuo, se)

Singular personal pronouns (minä, sinä, hän)

Plural personal pronouns (me, te, he)

Plural demonstratives (nämä, nuo, ne)

Coordinating conjunctions (ja, mutta, tai)

Yes/no questions (-ko / -kö)

Basic question words (kuka, mikä, missä)

Negation of to be (en ole, ei ole)

The inessive case (-ssa / -ssä)

Double consonant gradation (kk, pp, tt)

Consonant gradation (-ssa/-ssä)

Verb Type 1 (puhun, puhut, puhuu)

Verb Type 1 with consonant gradation

Negative verbs (en puhu, et lue)

External location (-lla/-llä)

There is / there are (kaupungissa on)

Possession (minulla on)

Numbers 1 to 10 (yksi, kaksi, kolme)

The partitive singular (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Quantities with numbers (kaksi autoa)

Negative possession (ei ole)

Numbers 11 to 100 and 1000

Partitive verbs

Partitive personal pronouns (minua, sinua)

Verb Type 2 (-da/-dä)

Partitive for mass nouns (-a/-ä, -ta/-tä)

Partitive for negative objects

Adjective agreement

Verb Type 3

The elative case (-sta/-stä)

Negative possession (minulla ei ole…)

The illative case (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Numbers 21 to 99

Static vs. movement verbs

Verb Type 4 (-Vta / -Vtä)

Verb Type 5 (-ita / -itä)

Genitive singular for possession (-n)

Total object (-n)

Accusative personal pronouns (-t)

Obligation (täytyy)

Into places (-Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Postpositions with the genitive

My and your (-ni, -si)

Onto and to someone (-lle)

From someone or somewhere (-lta, -ltä)

Telling time (kello on...)

Months of the year (-ssa, -ssä)

Days of the week (-na, -nä)

When and why (milloin, miksi)

The illative case (mihin, -Vn, -hVn, -seen)

Past tense of to be (olin, olit, oli)

The seasons (kevät, kesä, syksy, talvi)

The imperative mood (lue!, syö!, mene!)

The past tense of to be (olin, oli)

The illative case (-hVn, -seen)

Greetings and goodbyes (hei, näkemiin)

Thank you and sorry (kiitos, anteeksi)

Liking things (pitää / tykätä + -sta/-stä)

Temporary states and roles (-na/-nä)

Change of state (-ksi)

Ongoing actions (-massa/-mässä)

Going to do an action (-maan/-mään)

Returning from an action (-masta/-mästä)

Third-person possessives (-nsa/-nsä or -Vn)

Plural possessives (-mme, -nne)

Indefinite pronouns (joku, jokin, kaikki)

Negative indefinite pronouns (ei kukaan, ei mikään)

Commands for verb types 4 and 5

Adverb formation (-sti)

Past tense for verb type 1 (-i-)

Past tense vowel changes for verb type 1 (-o- / -i-)

Past tense for verb type 2 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 3 (-i-)

Past tense for verb type 4 (-si-)

Past tense for verb type 5 (-itsi-)

Past tense consonant gradation

Past participles for verb types 1 and 2 (-nut / -nyt)

Past participle singular for verb types 3-5 (-nnut, -llut)

Active past participle plural (-neet)

Past tense negative (en mennyt, emme olleet)

The perfect tense (olen ollut)

The perfect tense negative (en ole nähnyt)

Total plural objects (-t)

Partitive plural (-ia / -iä)

Partitive plural (-ja / -jä)

Question	Answer
what kind of	millainen
the circus	sirkus
What kind of circus is in the city?	Millainen sirkus kaupungissa on?
what kind of	minkälainen
acrobatic	akrobaattinen
What kind of acrobatic performance is next?	Minkälainen on seuraava akrobaattinen esitys?
the clown	pelle
What kind of clown does tricks and makes the audience laugh?	Millainen pelle tekee temppuja ja naurattaa yleisöä?
the acrobat	akrobaatti
flexible	notkea
fearless	peloton
What kind of acrobat is so flexible and fearless?	Minkälainen akrobaatti on niin notkea ja peloton?
amazing	hämmästyttävä
The circus's performance is truly amazing.	Sirkuksen esitys on todella hämmästyttävä.
We are watching a flexible acrobat in the tent.	Me olemme katsomassa notkeaa akrobaattia teltassa.
You are watching a performance, but what kind is it?	Sä oot katsomassa esitystä, mut millainen se on?
Is the acrobat fearless when he jumps in the tent?	Onko akrobaatti peloton, kun hän hyppää teltassa?
What kind of clown are you, and are you also an acrobat?	Minkälainen pelle sä oot, ja ootko sä myös akrobaatti?
The acrobatic tricks at the circus are amazing.	Sirkuksen akrobaattiset temput ovat hämmästyttäviä.
the balloon	ilmapallo
What kind of balloon does the clown have?	Millainen ilmapallo pellellä on?
What kind of acrobat is jumping on the stage?	Minkälainen akrobaatti lavalla hyppää?
The fearless clown is sitting in the tent.	Peloton pelle istuu teltassa.
What kind of balloon is that?	Millainen ilmapallo tuo on?
brilliant, splendid	loistava
The acrobat was brilliant.	Akrobaatti oli loistava.
The circus was splendid.	Sirkus oli loistava.
handsome (of a man)	komea
What kind of man is he? He is handsome.	Millainen mies hän on? Hän on komea.
The handsome acrobat smiles.	Komea akrobaatti hymyilee.
pretty, cute	nätti
The pretty balloon is red.	Nätti ilmapallo on punainen.
What kind of clown is he? Pretty and funny.	Minkälainen pelle on? Nätti ja hauska.
ugly	ruma
The clown is not ugly, but rather funny.	Pelle ei ole ruma, vaan hauska.
This hat is ugly.	Tämä hattu on ruma.
fat (of a person or animal)	lihava
The fat clown is supple.	Lihava pelle on notkea.
What kind of cat is it? It is fat.	Millainen kissa on? Se on lihava.

Contributors