Breakdown of Tuo koriste on kaunis, vaikka se on vanha.
olla
to be
tuo
that
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
vanha
old
kaunis
beautiful
vaikka
although / even though
koriste
decoration
Questions & Answers about Tuo koriste on kaunis, vaikka se on vanha.
This lesson is about the past passive participle. Why isn't the word for "decoration" koristettu?
Koriste is a standard noun meaning "an ornament" or "a decoration." Koristettu is the past passive participle of the verb koristaa (to decorate) and acts as an adjective meaning "decorated." If you wanted to say "That is decorated," you would use koristettu.
How is the noun koriste formed, and is there a pattern to it?
It is formed by adding the noun-making suffix -e to the stem of the verb koristaa (to decorate). This is a very common way Finnish turns actions into physical objects. You've already learned other words formed exactly this way, like osoite (an address, from osoittaa - to point) and vaate (a garment, from vaatettaa - to clothe).
Why does the sentence use both tuo and se to talk about the same object?
Tuo means "that," and is used as a demonstrative word to point out a specific object in your line of sight ("That decoration"). In the second clause, se (it) is simply a pronoun referring back to the noun we just mentioned, exactly like in English: "That decoration is beautiful, even though it is old."
Does vaikka always mean "even though"?
Not always! When it connects two clauses together like it does in this sentence, vaikka means "even though" or "although." However, in everyday spoken Finnish, you will often hear vaikka used as a filler word to mean "for example" or "let's say" (e.g., Ota vaikka tuo! - "Take that one, for example!").
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