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More from this lesson
Questions & Answers about Tämä kirja on uusi.
Why do we use Tämä instead of Se or Tuo?
In Finnish, Tämä is used for something that is close to the speaker (similar to "this" in English), Tuo is for something farther away ("that"), and Se is often used when referring to something already known in context or previously mentioned ("it"/"that"). Since you’re presumably showing the book or it’s within reach, Tämä fits best.
Why is kirja in this form and not changed by a case ending?
In Finnish, if the subject of the sentence is a single countable noun (like kirja), it remains in the basic (nominative) form when it is the subject of a simple statement. There’s no additional ending unless you are using another grammatical case (such as partitive, genitive, etc.).
Is on always used the same way as "is" in English?
Yes. On is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb olla ("to be"). It functions similarly to "is" in English sentences with third-person singular subjects (he/she/it).
Does the adjective uusi need to agree with kirja in any way?
In a simple sentence like this, the adjective takes the same basic (nominative) form as the noun when stating a characteristic. Both kirja and uusi are in the nominative form because you’re describing the book as "new."
How would I negate this sentence?
In Finnish, you use a separate negative verb and keep the main verb’s stem. For example: Tämä kirja ei ole uusi ("This book is not new"). The negative is formed with ei plus the basic form ole of the verb olla.