Learn Hardcore Finnish: Liiallinen nopeus voi olla vaarallinen.

liiallinen means “excessive.” It’s formed from the adverb liikaa (“too much”) plus the adjectival suffix -llinen, creating an adjective that modifies a noun.

Why is nopeus in the nominative case?

nopeus (“speed”) is the subject of the sentence. Finnish subjects appear in the nominative case, so we use nopeus in its nominative singular form.

Why are there no articles (like “a” or “the”) before nopeus?

Finnish does not have grammatical articles. You simply use the noun without a or the; context tells you whether it’s definite or indefinite.

Why is voi olla used instead of on?

voi is the present tense of voida (“can, be able to”), and with the infinitive olla (“to be”) it expresses possibility: “can be.” If you said on, it would mean “is” (a definite statement).

What part of speech is vaarallinen, and how is it formed?

vaarallinen (“dangerous”) is an adjective. It’s derived from the noun vaara (“danger”) plus the suffix -llinen, meaning “full of danger.”

Why can’t I say liian nopeus or liian nopea nopeus?

liian is an adverb that only modifies adjectives or other adverbs, not nouns. To modify a noun you need an adjective: liiallinen nopeus. If you want to say “too fast” about something, you’d say auto on liian nopea (“the car is too fast”).

Can I change the word order in this sentence?

Finnish word order is flexible, but the neutral order is Subject–Verb–Predicate:
Liiallinen nopeus (subject) – voi olla (verb) – vaarallinen (predicate).
You can move elements around for emphasis, but this is the most common.

How do I pronounce the double letters in liiallinen?

Both ii and ll are long sounds. Hold ii about twice as long as a single i, and ll about twice as long as a single l. It sounds roughly like “lee-ahl-lin-en.”