Elokuva on surullinen.

to be

Breakdown of Elokuva on surullinen.

• elokuva: the movie
• surullinen: sad

Questions & Answers about Elokuva on surullinen.

What does Elokuva mean?

Elokuva is a noun in the nominative singular meaning “movie” or “film.”

What is the role of on in this sentence?

on is the third-person singular present tense of the verb olla (“to be”). Here it functions as the copula “is,” linking the subject elokuva with the adjective surullinen.

What does surullinen mean and what part of speech is it?

surullinen is an adjective meaning “sad.” As a predicative adjective it describes the state or quality of the subject elokuva.

Why is surullinen in this form (ending in -inen) and not inflected further?

In predicative position after olla, Finnish adjectives agree with the subject in number and case. Since elokuva is singular nominative, the adjective stays in the nominative singular (surullinen), which also happens to be its dictionary form.

How would I make Elokuva on surullinen negative?

Finnish uses a negative auxiliary ei plus the verb’s connegative. For olla, the connegative is ole:

• Elokuva ei ole surullinen.