Questions & Answers about Onko uusi kämppis söpö?
How would I answer "Yes, he is" or "Yes, she is" to this question using the spoken Finnish we are learning?
You would say Joo, se on. In spoken Finnish (puhekieli), people almost always use se (normally "it") instead of hän (he/she) when talking about other people.
Where does the word kämppis come from?
It is a very common spoken word for "roommate" or "flatmate". It is formed from kämppä (a slang word for apartment or pad) plus the -is suffix. You will see this suffix a lot in spoken Finnish to shorten words, like kirppis (from kirpputori, flea market) or julkkis (from julkisuuden henkilö, celebrity).
Why is the adjective söpö in the basic nominative form instead of the partitive (söpöä)?
We use the basic nominative form because the subject of the sentence, kämppis (roommate), is a singular, countable person. You only use the partitive for adjectives when describing uncountable things (mass nouns like water or food) or abstract situations.
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