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Questions & Answers about Tämä laukku on painava.
What does the word Tämä mean and how is it used?
Tämä is a demonstrative pronoun meaning this. In Finnish you place it directly before the noun it modifies, and both words share the same case (here nominative). So tämä laukku literally means this bag.
Why isn’t there an article like a or the in this sentence?
Finnish has no definite or indefinite articles. Context and word order carry that meaning. If you need to emphasize "this bag" (definite), you use a demonstrative (tämä). To say "a bag," you simply say laukku without any article.
Why is laukku not declined here?
Laukku is in the nominative case because it’s the subject of the sentence. Subjects in a simple “A is B” construction stay in the nominative. If it were an object, you’d see a different case: e.g. Näen tämän laukun (“I see this bag,” where laukun is accusative/generic object).
What form of the verb olla is on?
On is the 3rd person singular present tense of olla (“to be”). So in Tämä laukku on painava it means “(it) is.”
How do adjectives like painava behave in Finnish?
Adjectives agree with their noun in case and number. Here painava is in nominative singular to match laukku. In predicative use (after olla), the adjective stands alone in its base form: on painava = “is heavy.”
What’s the difference between painava and raskas?
Both mean “heavy,” but painava is the neutral, everyday word for physical weight. Raskas can also mean “burdensome” or “difficult,” so if you strictly speak about weight, painava is more common.
How do I make this sentence negative?
Use the negative verb ei in the correct person/number and keep olla in its infinitive form:
Tämä laukku ei ole painava.
(“This bag is not heavy.”)
How would I turn this into a question?
Finnish forms yes/no questions by inverting the verb and subject:
Onko tämä laukku painava?
= “Is this bag heavy?”