Paita on hengittävä.

The shirt is breathable.

Breakdown of Paita on hengittävä.

• olla: to be
• paita: the shirt
• hengittävä: breathable

Questions & Answers about Paita on hengittävä.

What does each word in Paita on hengittävä do?

• paita = shirt
• on = is (the he/she/it form of olla, to be)
• hengittävä = breathable

So the structure is very straightforward: subject + verb + adjective.

Why is there no word for a or the?

Finnish does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So paita can mean:

• a shirt
• the shirt
• sometimes just shirt, depending on context

You learn which meaning is intended from the situation, not from a separate article word.

What form is paita in?

Paita is in the nominative singular.

Here, it is the subject of the sentence, so nominative is the normal form:

• Paita on hengittävä. = The shirt is breathable.

The basic dictionary form of the noun is also paita, so this sentence uses the basic singular subject form.