Vastaus on sama.

to be

Breakdown of Vastaus on sama.

• vastaus: the answer
• sama: same

Questions & Answers about Vastaus on sama.

Why is there no article like the or a before vastaus?

Finnish doesn’t use articles (the, a). Definiteness or indefiniteness is determined by context, so you simply say vastaus on sama—literally “answer is same”—and translate it as “the answer is the same.”

What case are vastaus and sama in here, and why?

Both are in the nominative singular. With the verb olla (“to be”), you use the nominative for both the subject (vastaus) and the predicate adjective (sama).

Why isn’t sama in the partitive as samaa?

Predicate adjectives after olla always take the nominative, not the partitive. You would see samaa in a partitive object position, e.g. Etsin samaa vastausta (“I’m looking for the same answer”).

How would I say the answers are the same in Finnish?

Pluralize both noun and adjective: vastaukset ovat samat. Here vastaukset is nominative plural (“answers”) and samat is the matching adjective form.

How do I compare with yesterday, i.e. say the answer is the same as yesterday?