Kuva on kaunis.

to be

Breakdown of Kuva on kaunis.

• kaunis: beautiful
• kuva: the picture

Questions & Answers about Kuva on kaunis.

What does kuva mean, and which grammatical case is it in?

kuva means picture. It is in the nominative singular case because it functions as the subject of the sentence. Finnish marks grammatical roles with cases rather than word order or articles.

What does on represent in this sentence?

on is the third person singular present tense form of olla (“to be”). It acts as a copula, linking the subject (kuva) to its predicate adjective (kaunis).

Why is there no word for a or the before kuva?

Finnish does not have articles like a or the. Definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context. If you need to specify “this” or “that,” you use demonstrative pronouns (e.g., tämä, se).

Why is kaunis not changed in form after kuva?

Adjectives in Finnish agree with their nouns in case and number. Here, kaunis is in the nominative singular to match kuva. Finnish has no grammatical gender, so there’s no extra agreement form needed.

Can I say kaunis kuva instead of kuva on kaunis, and what’s the difference?