Ratkaisu oli nerokas.

The solution was ingenious.

Breakdown of Ratkaisu oli nerokas.

• olla: to be
• ratkaisu: the solution
• nerokas: ingenious; brilliant

Questions & Answers about Ratkaisu oli nerokas.

What part of speech is each word in Ratkaisu oli nerokas?

• ratkaisu = a noun: solution
• oli = the past tense of olla (to be): was
• nerokas = an adjective: ingenious / brilliant / clever

So the sentence structure is:

noun + verb + adjective

That is very normal in Finnish.

Why is ratkaisu in the basic form?

Because it is the subject of the sentence, and the subject is often in the nominative (the dictionary form).

Here, ratkaisu is the thing being described:

• Ratkaisu = the solution
• oli nerokas = was ingenious

So ratkaisu stays in its basic nominative singular form.

What form is oli?