Breakdown of Tämä vitsi on todella hauska.
tämä
this
olla
to be
hauska
fun
todella
really (very, intensifier)
vitsi
joke
Questions & Answers about Tämä vitsi on todella hauska.
Why is "hauska" in the nominative case here rather than the partitive "hauskaa"?
Because vitsi (joke) is a countable noun. In Finnish, when the subject is a singular countable noun, the adjective describing it (the subject complement) must be in the nominative case. If the subject were an uncountable mass noun or an abstract concept, like in the sentence Huumori on hauskaa (Humor is fun), you would use the partitive.
How does todella compare to tosi in this context?
Both mean "really" and can be used interchangeably in this sentence. Tosi hauska is extremely common in everyday spoken Finnish, while todella hauska is slightly more standard or emphatic. You might also hear oikein hauska, which carries a similar but slightly warmer nuance.
Is the adverb todella grammatically related to the word tosi (true)?
Yes! Todella is actually formed using the adessive case of the noun tosi (truth). The stem of tosi is tote-, which undergoes consonant gradation to become tode-. Adding the -lla ending literally translates to "with truth" or "on truth." Over time, this case form fossilized into the standard adverb for "really" or "truly."
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