Auto on raskas.

to be

Breakdown of Auto on raskas.

• auto: the car
• raskas: heavy

Questions & Answers about Auto on raskas.

What does on mean and what is its function in the sentence?

on is the third-person singular present form of the verb olla (“to be”). It links the subject auto to the predicate adjective raskas, so Auto on raskas literally means “The car is heavy.”

Why is there no word equivalent to “the” or “a” before auto?

Finnish has no definite or indefinite articles. Whether you mean “a car” or “the car” is understood from context or by adding a demonstrative (e.g. tämä auto for “this car”).

What case and number is auto in, and why is it used here?

auto is in the nominative singular. The nominative is the basic form used for the subject of a sentence, and it’s also the form you look up in a dictionary.

Why doesn’t raskas change its ending like raskaan or raskasta?

As a predicate adjective describing a nominative subject, raskas remains in the nominative singular. Endings like -n (genitive) or -a (partitive) appear only in other grammatical roles.

How would you make this sentence negative?