Kulttuuri on kaunis.

Culture is beautiful.

Breakdown of Kulttuuri on kaunis.

• olla: to be
• kaunis: beautiful
• kulttuuri: the culture

Questions & Answers about Kulttuuri on kaunis.

What case is kulttuuri in, and what does that case tell us?

kulttuuri is in the nominative singular. In Finnish, the nominative case • marks the subject of a sentence
• is also the dictionary form of a noun

Here, it shows that kulttuuri (“culture”) is the thing being described.

What is on, and how does it function here?

on is the third person singular present form of the verb olla (to be). It means “is” in English. In Kulttuuri on kaunis., on links the subject (kulttuuri) with the predicate adjective (kaunis).

Why aren’t there any articles (a/an/the) before kulttuuri?

Finnish does not have articles. Definite or indefinite meaning is inferred from context rather than separate words like a, an, or the.

Why does kaunis look the same as its dictionary form? How do adjectives agree with nouns?

kaunis is the nominative singular form of the adjective, matching kulttuuri (nominative singular). In Finnish adjective–noun agreement: • adjectives take the same case and number as the noun they modify
• here both are nominative singular, so no additional ending appears on kaunis

Can I change the word order, for example say Kaunis on kulttuuri? Does it alter the meaning?