Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Pilvi on suuri.
Why use suuri here instead of iso?
Both suuri and iso mean big or large, and they are usually interchangeable. Suuri can sometimes feel a bit more formal or abstract, while iso is very common in everyday spoken Finnish. For a physical cloud, either is perfectly fine!
There is no word for 'the' in this sentence. How do we know it means 'the cloud' instead of 'a cloud'?
Finnish does not have articles like 'a' or 'the'. You figure it out from context and word order. Because pilvi is at the beginning of the sentence before the verb, it is the known subject, which naturally translates to 'the cloud' in English.
If there were multiple clouds, how would the adjective suuri change?
Adjectives in Finnish must match the noun they describe. If you had multiple clouds (pilvet), the adjective would also take the plural -t ending, becoming suuret. The verb would also change to ovat (are), making the whole sentence Pilvet ovat suuret.
How would I add a season to this sentence, like 'in the summer'?
To say 'in the summer', you take the word for summer (kesä) and add the -llä ending, making it kesällä. You can place it at the start of the sentence to set the scene: Kesällä pilvi on suuri (In the summer, the cloud is large).