Joki on puhdas.

The river is clean.

Breakdown of Joki on puhdas.

• olla: to be
• puhdas: clean (not dirty)
• joki: the river

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.

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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.

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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.

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Why is on used here, and what is its infinitive?