Questions & Answers about Tuo tuoli on harmaa.
What is the difference between tuo and se? Both can mean 'that'.
In Finnish, tuo is used when you are physically pointing to or looking at something further away from you, exactly like saying 'that chair over there'. Se is usually used for 'it', or for things that are out of sight or were just mentioned in conversation.
I thought tuo meant 'brings'. Why does it mean 'that' here?
It means both! Tuo is a pronoun meaning 'that', but it is also the 'he/she brings' form of the verb tuoda (to bring). Here, because it is placed right before the noun tuoli, it acts as a pointing word: 'that chair'.
Does the adjective harmaa need to change to match the word tuoli?
In this sentence, both tuo tuoli (that chair) and harmaa (grey) are in their basic dictionary form because we are talking about one single object. If we were talking about multiple chairs, the adjective would also need to become plural and end in a T: harmaat.
Why does harmaa end with two A's?
The double letter means it has a long vowel sound. When you say harmaa, you hold the final sound twice as long as a single vowel. In Finnish, mixing up short and long vowels can change the meaning of a word, so it is important to stretch that last sound!