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Questions & Answers about Täällä on hyvä tunnelma.
What does täällä mean, and how is it different from tässä and tuolla?
täällä is an adverb meaning here (at this place). tässä also means here, but literally in this (for example, in your hand or inside something). tuolla means over there (at a place farther away).
Why is on used here, and what form of the verb olla is it?
on is the third-person singular present tense of olla (to be). In this sentence it means is or there is. Because we’re talking about a general location, Finnish uses on (not olen, olet, etc.).
Why isn’t there an article like a, an or the before hyvä tunnelma?
Finnish does not have articles. Nouns and noun phrases appear without a, an or the. Depending on context, hyvä tunnelma can mean good atmosphere, a good atmosphere or the good atmosphere.
What case are hyvä and tunnelma in, and why don’t they change?
Both hyvä and tunnelma are in the nominative singular case. In an olla-sentence stating existence of a single countable item, Finnish typically uses the nominative. Adjectives agree with nouns in case and number, so hyvä matches tunnelma.
How do you pronounce täällä, especially the double ä and the double l?
In Finnish ä is like the a in English cat, and double letters indicate a long sound. You pronounce täällä roughly as TEH-LLAAH, holding both the ä and the l longer: [ˈtæːlːæ].
Can the word order in this sentence be changed, and what effect does that have?
Yes. Finnish has flexible word order for emphasis. For example:
• Täällä on hyvä tunnelma – neutral.
• Hyvä tunnelma täällä on – emphasizes hyvä tunnelma.
• On täällä hyvä tunnelma – can sound more dramatic or poetic.
How can I make the phrase stronger, like very good atmosphere?
Insert an intensifier such as todella (really) or erittäin (extremely):
• Täällä on todella hyvä tunnelma (Here is a really good atmosphere)
• Täällä on erittäin hyvä tunnelma (Here is an extremely good atmosphere)
How would I say There was a good atmosphere instead of There is?
Use the past tense of olla, which is oli. So:
Täällä oli hyvä tunnelma
This means There was a good atmosphere here.