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Questions & Answers about Kissa on kaunis.
Why doesn't the sentence have a word like "a" or "the" to indicate whether it's "a cat" or "the cat"?
Finnish doesn't use articles. The context usually helps you figure out whether the sentence refers to "a cat" in general or "the cat" specifically. Here, "kissa" could mean "the cat" or "a cat" based on the situation.
What does "on" mean, and why is it used instead of something else?
"On" is the third-person singular present tense form of the Finnish verb "olla" ("to be"). It translates to "is" in English. So "kissa on kaunis" literally corresponds to "cat is beautiful."
Why is the adjective "kaunis" in this form, rather than something like "kauniin" or "kaunista"?
When an adjective is used as a predicate (describing the subject after the verb "to be"), it usually appears in its basic (nominative) form, which here is "kaunis". Forms like "kauniin" or "kaunista" have different uses (genitive or partitive) depending on the sentence structure and meaning.
How do I know which word is the subject and which is the complement?
"Kissa" (the cat) is the subject, and "kaunis" (beautiful) is the adjective describing the subject. The verb links them. The typical Finnish word order for a simple statement is , just like this sentence.