Breakdown of Tämä näytelmä on hauska, mutta toinen kohtaus on vaikea.
tämä
this
olla
to be
mutta
but
vaikea
difficult / hard
Questions & Answers about Tämä näytelmä on hauska, mutta toinen kohtaus on vaikea.
Why are hauska and vaikea in the basic form (nominative) instead of the partitive case here?
In Finnish, when you describe a countable, singular noun (like näytelmä or kohtaus) using the verb olla (to be), the describing adjective stays in the nominative case. You would only use the partitive case for the adjective if the subject was an uncountable mass noun (like coffee or weather) or if it were plural.
Doesn't toinen usually mean "other"? How do we know it means "second" here?
Toinen is a very common word that can mean either "second" or "other" depending on the context. Because plays are naturally divided into numbered parts, "the second scene" is the most natural translation here. If a play only had two scenes, it could also translate to "the other scene".
Is the word näytelmä (play) related to the verb for "to show"?
Yes, it is! It ultimately comes from the verb näyttää (to show). From that, we get the verb näytellä (to act / to play a role). Adding the suffix -mä turns that action into a noun, giving us näytelmä (a play).
I've seen kohtaus used for a medical "attack" or "seizure". Is it the same word here?
Yes, it is exactly the same word. In movies and theatre, kohtaus means a "scene". In medical contexts, it means an "attack" or "seizure" (for example, sydänkohtaus is a heart attack). You just have to rely on the context to know which meaning is being used!