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Questions & Answers about Tehtävä on helppo.
What does each word in "Tehtävä on helppo" mean grammatically?
"Tehtävä" is a noun in the nominative case meaning task or exercise. "On" is the third-person singular present form of the verb olla (to be), and "helppo" is an adjective in its base (nominative) form meaning easy. Together, the sentence translates as "The task is easy."
Why is there no article (like "the" or "a") before "tehtävä"?
Finnish does not use articles. Unlike English, where words such as "the" or "a" indicate definiteness, Finnish relies on context and word order to convey that information, so "tehtävä" stands alone in the nominative case without an article.
Why does the adjective "helppo" appear uninflected instead of matching or modifying the noun "tehtävä"?
In Finnish, when an adjective is used as a predicate complement after a linking verb (such as "on"), it remains in its basic nominative form. This differs from attributive usage (when the adjective directly modifies a noun), where adjectives might carry case endings to agree with the noun.
What role does the verb "on" play in the sentence?
"On" is the copula, a form of the verb olla meaning "to be." It links the subject "tehtävä" with the predicate adjective "helppo," establishing an identity or quality—in this case, stating that the task is easy.
How would you form a question from this statement in Finnish?
To turn the statement into a question, you typically invert the order of the copula and the subject. For example, "Onko tehtävä helppo?" directly translates to "Is the task easy?" in English.
Is the word order in this sentence similar to English, and how flexible is Finnish word order?
Yes, the sentence follows a subject–verb–predicate order, which is similar to a basic English sentence. However, Finnish is known for its flexible word order, which can be rearranged for emphasis or stylistic reasons without altering the core meaning.
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