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Questions & Answers about Tämä tilanne on vakava.
What does Tämä mean and what role does it play in the sentence?
Tämä is a demonstrative pronoun (determiner) meaning this. In Finnish it precedes a noun to specify it, and here it’s in the nominative singular, modifying tilanne.
Why is there no word for “a” or “the” before tilanne?
Finnish has no articles like a or the. Definiteness and indefiniteness are conveyed by context, word order, or demonstratives (like tämä), so tilanne remains in its base (nominative singular) form.
What case is tilanne in and why?
Tilanne is in the nominative singular because it’s the subject of the sentence. The verb on (“is”) takes a nominative subject rather than an object.
Why is vakava not vakavaa or vakavan?
Here vakava is a predicate adjective describing tilanne and must agree in case and number—nominative singular. The basic nominative singular ending for adjectives is -a or -ä. Vakavaa would be the partitive form, and vakavan the genitive.
Can I say vakava tilanne instead of tilanne on vakava?
Yes, as an attributive adjective before a noun you’d say vakava tilanne (“a serious situation”) without the verb on. But to make a full sentence equivalent to “This situation is serious,” you use the copula on and place the adjective after it: Tämä tilanne on vakava.
Why is on placed between tilanne and vakava?
On is the present tense form of olla, “to be.” The neutral word order in Finnish is Subject–Verb–Predicate, so Tämä tilanne (subject) + on (verb) + vakava (predicate adjective).
Can I change the word order for emphasis?
Yes. Finnish allows flexibility. For emphasis you could say On vakava tämä tilanne (“This situation is serious”), though the unmarked, neutral order is Tämä tilanne on vakava.
Where is the stress placed in each word?
Finnish puts primary stress on the first syllable of every word. So you stress TÄ-mä, TIL-lan-ne, ON, VA-ka-va.
How do you form the question “Is this situation serious?”
Invert on and tämä, and add the question particle -ko to the verb:
Onko tämä tilanne vakava?
How would you say “these situations are serious”?
You pluralize noun, verb, and predicate adjective:
Nämä tilanteet ovat vakavat.
- tilanne → tilanteet (nominative plural)
- on → ovat (3rd person plural of olla)
- vakava → vakavat (adjective in nominative plural)
How do you express “this situation is more serious”?
Use the comparative form vakavampi of vakava:
Tämä tilanne on vakavampi.
To compare explicitly add kuin (“than”): Tämä tilanne on vakavampi kuin ennen.