Kahvila on edullinen.

Breakdown of Kahvila on edullinen.

olla
to be
kahvila
the café
edullinen
affordable
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Finnish now

Questions & Answers about Kahvila on edullinen.

What parts of speech are the words in Kahvila on edullinen?
kahvila is a noun in nominative singular (the subject), on is the 3rd person singular present of the verb olla (“to be”), and edullinen is an adjective in nominative singular (the predicate complement).
Why isn’t there an article like “a” or “the” in this Finnish sentence?
Finnish does not use articles. Whether you mean “a café” or “the café” comes entirely from context, not from a separate word.
Why isn’t kahvila marked with any extra ending?
It’s in the nominative case (the base form) because it’s functioning as the subject of the sentence. Subjects in Finnish typically appear in nominative without additional endings.
What does on mean here, and is it always used like that?
on is the present tense, 3rd person singular form of olla (“to be”), so it means “is.” You use it whenever you want to link a subject to a description or a location. For example: Koirani on väsynyt (“My dog is tired”).
Why is edullinen in the nominative form (ending in -nen)?
Adjectives used predicatively after olla take the nominative to agree with the subject. The -nen ending is the standard ending for many Finnish adjectives in their basic (positive) form.
How do you turn this statement into a yes/no question?
Invert the verb and the subject: Onko kahvila edullinen? – “Is the café affordable?”
How do you negate it to say “The café is not affordable”?

Use the negative verb ei and the connegative form ole of olla:
Kahvila ei ole edullinen.

What’s the difference between edullinen and halpa?
edullinen means “affordable” or “reasonably priced” (often implying good value), whereas halpa means “cheap” (which can sometimes suggest lower quality).
How would you say “an affordable café” as a noun phrase?
Place the adjective before the noun: edullinen kahvila.
How do you form the comparative “more affordable”?
Change edullinen to edullisempi. For example: Tämä kahvila on edullisempi kuin se toinen. (“This café is more affordable than the other one.”)
How do you pronounce kahvila and edullinen?
kahvila is pronounced [ˈkɑhʋilɑ], and edullinen is pronounced [eˈdullinen], with the primary stress on the first syllable.