Breakdown of Mikä on viisi plus viisi? Se on helppo yhteenlasku.
olla
to be
se
it / he / she (of a person) / that
mikä
what
helppo
easy
Questions & Answers about Mikä on viisi plus viisi? Se on helppo yhteenlasku.
Why do we use mikä instead of mitä here?
In Finnish, when you ask for the result of a math problem, you are asking for a specific, identifiable number, so you use the nominative mikä (what). If you were asking about an uncountable substance or a more open-ended question, you would use the partitive mitä.
How does the word yhteenlasku break down?
It is a compound word made of yhteen (together, into one) and lasku (calculation, count, or bill). Literally, it means a together-calculation, which is the perfect way to describe addition!
What exactly does se refer to in the second sentence?
Se (it) refers back to the entire mathematical equation, viisi plus viisi, from the previous sentence. While se is often used for a specific thing or animal, it is also the standard pronoun to refer back to a complete previous statement or abstract concept.
Is plus a standard Finnish word, and does it take grammatical endings here?
Plus is an international loanword used universally in everyday Finnish math. As a mathematical operator, it does not take grammatical endings here. You simply say viisi plus viisi. While there is an older native word for plus (ynnä), plus is far more common today.