Breakdown of Tämä sormus ei ole muovinen, vaan kultainen.
tämä
this
olla
to be
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
sormus
ring
vaan
but rather (after a negative)
muovinen
made of plastic
kultainen
golden
Questions & Answers about Tämä sormus ei ole muovinen, vaan kultainen.
How do muovinen and kultainen relate to the nouns for plastic and gold?
By adding the suffix -inen to a noun, you create an adjective that describes what something is made of. Here, the nouns muovi (plastic) and kulta (gold) become the adjectives muovinen (made of plastic) and kultainen (made of gold).
When adding the -inen ending to kulta and muovi, why does the last vowel of the original word disappear?
When attaching the -inen suffix, if the word's basic stem ends in a short vowel, that final vowel is usually dropped before adding the suffix. So, kulta drops its final 'a' to form kultainen, and muovi drops its final 'i' to form muovinen.
Why use vaan instead of mutta for 'but' in this sentence?
You use vaan when you are directly correcting a negative statement. Since the first part of the sentence says the ring is not plastic (ei ole muovinen), you must use vaan to introduce the correct alternative. You would use mutta when just adding contrasting but non-corrective information.
Could I say ei ole muovia, vaan kultaa instead?
Yes! Using the partitive form of the material nouns (muovia, kultaa) is another very common way to express what something is made of. Using the -inen adjectives (muovinen, kultainen) as shown in this sentence means exactly the same thing but shifts the grammar from using nouns to using adjectives.
Learn Tämä sormus ei ole muovinen, vaan kultainen and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free