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Questions & Answers about Aurinko on kaunis tänään.
Why is aurinko not inflected here? Shouldn’t it change form?
In Finnish, the subject in a basic sentence typically stays in the nominative case. Since aurinko is the subject, it remains in its base form (nominative). You only see inflection in different grammatical contexts (e.g., when something belongs to the sun or you move towards it, etc.).
How can I move “tänään” to another position in the sentence?
Finnish word order is quite flexible. You can say Aurinko on tänään kaunis or Tänään aurinko on kaunis without changing the meaning substantially. Putting tänään at the beginning just emphasizes that you’re talking about today.
What is the difference between kaunis and “kauniilta” or “kauniina”?
Kaunis is the basic adjective form (nominative). You might see other forms in different constructions: • kauniilta (elative form of the adjective) appears in expressions like “näyttää kauniilta” (looks beautiful). • kauniina (essive form) appears in contexts like “aurinko paistaa kauniina” (the sun is shining beautifully/as beautiful).
Why do we need the verb on here? Isn’t it sometimes omitted in Finnish?
We generally need a verb in a linking construction (subject + link verb + adjective) to express a state of being. In more colloquial or informal registers, some might drop on in short phrases like “Suomi hieno maa” (Finland is a great country), but that’s not standard usage.
Does Finnish have articles like “the” or “a” in English?
Finnish doesn’t use articles. Context and word order provide clues about definiteness or indefiniteness. Hence, aurinko works for both “a sun” (if context allowed) and “the sun,” but in natural speech, it’s understood as “the sun” in everyday contexts where that clearly applies.
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