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Questions & Answers about Miksi asia on tärkeä?
What does miksi mean and how is it used in Finnish?
miksi means why. It’s the standard question word you place at the very beginning of a sentence when asking for a reason or cause.
What does asia translate to, and why is it used here?
asia literally means thing or matter. In this sentence it refers to the issue or the topic whose importance you’re asking about.
Why is asia in the nominative case rather than another case?
Because asia is the subject of the sentence. In Finnish, subjects in simple affirmative statements take the nominative form.
What is the verb on, and what is its infinitive form?
on is the 3rd person singular present form of olla (to be). The full present-tense paradigm is: olen (I am), olet (you are), on (he/she/it is), olemme (we are), olette (you pl. are), ovat (they are).
Why does the adjective tärkeä remain unchanged in this sentence?
After the verb olla, adjectives that describe the subject appear in the nominative singular to agree with a nominative subject. Since asia is nominative singular, tärkeä stays in its base form.
How do you pronounce tärkeä, especially the ä sound?
Finnish ä is a front vowel, similar to the a in English “cat” but a bit tenser. Pronounce tärkeä as TÄR-kä-ä, with stress on the first syllable (Finnish always stresses the first).
What is the typical word order for a content question like this in Finnish?
A neutral Finnish content question follows:
1) question word (Miksi)
2) subject (asia)
3) verb (on)
4) complement (tärkeä)
There’s no “a” or “the” before asia. How do you know if it means a thing or the thing?
Finnish has no articles. Context determines whether asia is understood as a thing, the thing, this matter, etc. Here it generalizes to the matter at hand.
Are there other ways to ask “why” in Finnish besides miksi?
Yes. You can also say minkä vuoksi, minkä takia, or colloquially mitä varten. They all mean why, though some are more formal or carry slight nuance differences.