Breakdown of Lohi on kallista, mutta se on herkullista.
olla
to be
mutta
but
kallis
expensive
herkullinen
delicious
lohi
salmon
Questions & Answers about Lohi on kallista, mutta se on herkullista.
Why are kallista and herkullista in the partitive case instead of the nominative (kallis, herkullinen)?
In Finnish, when the subject is an uncountable mass noun (like food or materials), the adjective describing it must be in the partitive case. Here, lohi refers to salmon as a general food, not a single whole fish, so we use the partitive kallista and herkullista.
If I caught a single, whole salmon and wanted to say it was expensive, would I still use kallista?
No. If you are talking about one individual, countable fish, the adjective matches it in the nominative case. You would say lohi on kallis. The partitive is only used in this sentence because we are talking about salmon as a general foodstuff.
Why is the subject lohi in the nominative case if it is an uncountable mass noun here? Shouldn't it be in the partitive?
In a basic descriptive sentence (A is B), the subject is almost always in the nominative case, even if it represents an uncountable mass. The rule about using the partitive for mass nouns applies to the adjective describing the subject, not the subject itself.
Could I leave out the pronoun se in the second half and just say ...mutta on herkullista?
It is much better to keep se here. While Finnish often drops the subject pronouns for I and you, third-person subjects (hän, se, he, ne) are generally required. In a compound sentence joined by mutta (but), repeating the pronoun is the standard way to speak.
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