Kotimaa on kaunis.

to be

Breakdown of Kotimaa on kaunis.

• kaunis: beautiful
• kotimaa: the home country

Questions & Answers about Kotimaa on kaunis.

What is the literal meaning of Kotimaa on kaunis?

It literally means Homeland is beautiful. Note that Finnish does not use articles like the or a, so the sentence conveys the idea without an article.

What role does the word on play in this sentence?

On is the third person singular form of the verb olla (to be). It serves as the linking verb that connects the subject kotimaa with the predicate adjective kaunis, effectively equating the two.

Why is there no article before kotimaa?

Finnish does not have articles. Instead, context provides any necessary sense of definiteness or indefiniteness. So while English might say the homeland, Finnish simply uses kotimaa without an article.

What case is kotimaa in, and why is that significant?

Kotimaa is in the nominative case, which is used for the subject of a sentence. Since it is the entity being described, its nominative form clearly identifies it as the subject doing the being (or having the quality) expressed by the adjective.

Why does the adjective kaunis appear in its basic form without additional endings?

When an adjective is used as a predicate after the linking verb (in this case on), it remains in the nominative form to agree with the subject. Here, kaunis matches kotimaa in case and number without needing any extra suffixes.

Is the word order in Kotimaa on kaunis typical for Finnish, and how does it compare to English?

Yes, the word order is very similar to English. Both Finnish and English follow a subject–verb–predicate structure in simple statements like this one. Although Finnish has a flexible word order due to its case system, this straightforward arrangement is common in descriptive sentences.