Tämä teatteri on suuri, ja näyttämö sopii monille eri esityksille.

to be

Breakdown of Tämä teatteri on suuri, ja näyttämö sopii monille eri esityksille.

• tämä: this
• ja: and
• teatteri: the theatre
• monta: many
• suuri: large
• näyttämö: the stage
• sopia: to suit
• eri: different
• esitys: the performance

Questions & Answers about Tämä teatteri on suuri, ja näyttämö sopii monille eri esityksille.

What is the function and meaning of tämä in this sentence?

Tämä means "this" in English and serves as a demonstrative determiner. It specifies which theatre is being discussed—similar to how English uses “this” to refer to a particular object—especially important in Finnish because there are no articles.

How does the Finnish sentence indicate characteristics such as "big" without using articles?

Finnish does not use articles like "a" or "the". Instead, demonstratives such as tämä help specify nouns. In this sentence, tämä teatteri translates to "this theatre", and the adjective suuri (big) follows directly, agreeing in number and case with teatteri.

What role does the verb on play in the sentence?

On is the present tense form of olla (to be). It acts as a linking verb that connects the subject teatteri with the predicate adjective suuri, indicating a state or attribute—namely, that the theatre is big.

Why does the verb sopii take the phrase monille eri esityksille as its complement, and what case is being used?

In Finnish, verbs like sopia (to suit) require that the entity for which something is suitable be expressed in a specific case. Monille and esityksille are in the allative case (marked by the ending -lle), which indicates direction or assignment (in this case, “for” many different performances). This construction answers the question “suitable for whom or what?” in Finnish.

What is the purpose of the comma before ja in the sentence?

The comma separates two independent clauses in a compound sentence. Here it clarifies that there are two distinct statements: one describing the theatre as big and the other stating that the stage is suitable for many different performances. Although Finnish punctuation rules can be flexible, this comma helps ensure clear separation and readability.