Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Finnish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Joki on puhdas.
What does each word in Joki on puhdas mean, and what are their parts of speech?
- Joki is a noun meaning river.
- on is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb olla (“to be”), so here it means is.
- puhdas is an adjective meaning clean.
Why aren’t there any articles like “a” or “the” in this sentence?
Finnish does not have definite or indefinite articles. A bare noun like joki can mean “a river,” “the river,” or simply “river” – context tells you which.
What case are joki and puhdas in, and why do they match?
Both are in the nominative singular case.
- Joki is the subject in its basic (nominative) form.
- puhdas is a predicative adjective describing the subject and must agree in case and number, so it also appears as nominative singular.
Why is on used here, and what is its infinitive?
on is the present‐tense form of the copular verb olla (“to be”) for 3rd person singular. The infinitive is olla. In English we say “is”; in Finnish you use on to link subject and predicate.