Learn Hardcore Finnish: Jono on lyhyt tänään.

You do not need an article (like a/the) or a demonstrative (like this/that) the way you do in English. Context makes it clear which queue you mean.

You would only add something like se (that) or tämä (this) if you specifically want to emphasize that particular queue:

Se jono on lyhyt tänään. – That queue is short today (as opposed to some other one).
Tämä jono on lyhyt tänään. – This queue is short today.

In neutral, context-based situations, jono alone is completely natural and usually the default.

Why is the verb on and not some other form of olla?

On is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb olla (to be).

Finnish present tense of olla:

minä olen – I am
sinä olet – you (sg) are
hän on – he/she is
me olemme – we are
te olette – you (pl/formal) are
he ovat – they are

Since jono is 3rd person singular (the queue), you use on:

Jono on lyhyt. – The queue is short.

There is no separate word for “is” apart from on; on already means “is” here.

Why is lyhyt in this form? Shouldn’t it change its ending somehow?

Lyhyt (short) is a predicate adjective describing the subject jono. In Finnish, a predicate adjective usually:

agrees in number and case with the subject in simple sentences.

Here:

Subject: jono – nominative singular
Predicate adjective: lyhyt – nominative singular

So you say:

Jono on lyhyt.

If the subject were plural, the adjective would also be plural:

Jonot ovat lyhyet. – The queues are short.

If the subject is in nominative singular, the adjective also stays in nominative singular, so lyhyt is exactly the form you expect.

Could it be Jono on lyhyttä tänään with -ä (partitive)?

No, not in this meaning. With a normal “X is Y” sentence that just describes what something is like, you use the nominative for the adjective:

Jono on lyhyt. – The queue is short.

The partitive form (lyhyttä) appears in other kinds of constructions (e.g. after certain verbs, expressing partialness, processes), but not in a straightforward “The queue is short” description.

So:

✔ Jono on lyhyt tänään.
✖ Jono on lyhyttä tänään. (ungrammatical in this sense)

What exactly does tänään mean, and is it related to tämä?

Tänään means “today” and functions as an adverb of time.

Historically, it comes from a structure like tänä päivänä (on this day), and tämä (this) is indeed the same root. Over time it fused into the one word tänään.

You can see the relationship in these expressions:

tänä iltana – this evening
tänä vuonna – this year
tänä viikonloppuna – this weekend

But tänään is now just a fixed adverb meaning today, and you use it on its own:

Jono on lyhyt tänään. – The queue is short today.

Can I change the word order and say Jono on tänään lyhyt? Does it sound different?

Yes, you can say:

Jono on tänään lyhyt.

Both:

Jono on lyhyt tänään.
Jono on tänään lyhyt.

are grammatically correct and natural.

Nuance (very slight, and often context‑dependent):

Jono on lyhyt tänään. – neutral; The queue is short today.
Jono on tänään lyhyt. – can put a tiny bit more emphasis on “today” (as in, today, it is short, possibly contrasting with other days).

In everyday speech, both are fine and often interchangeable; prosody (how you stress the words) will carry most of the emphasis.

Do I always need the verb on? Could I say Jono lyhyt tänään?

In standard Finnish, you need on in this kind of sentence:

✔ Jono on lyhyt tänään.

Leaving it out:

✖ Jono lyhyt tänään.

would be considered incorrect or at best very telegraphic (like a note or a headline). In casual speech you may sometimes hear similar omissions, but they are not standard grammar.

So, for normal sentences, always include on with a 3rd person singular subject like jono.

How would I say “The queues are short today”?

You need to make both the subject and the verb plural, and the adjective must agree:

Jonot ovat lyhyet tänään.

Breakdown:

jonot – plural of jono (queues)
ovat – 3rd person plural of olla (are)
lyhyet – plural nominative of lyhyt (short)
tänään – today

So the full plural version is:

Jonot ovat lyhyet tänään.

How would I make the sentence negative, like “The queue is not short today”?

You use the negative verb ei plus the base form ole of olla:

Jono ei ole lyhyt tänään. – The queue is not short today.

Pattern:

[Subject] + ei + ole + [adjective].

Some examples:

Jono ei ole lyhyt. – The queue is not short.
Jono ei ole pitkä. – The queue is not long.
Jonot eivät ole lyhyet. – The queues are not short.

Notice in the plural:

eivät ole with jonot (they are not).

Why is jono in the nominative case here, but I’ve seen jonoa in other sentences?

Here, jono is the subject of a simple “X is Y” sentence, so it’s in the nominative:

Jono on lyhyt. – The queue is short.

You’ll see jonoa (partitive) in different structures, especially existential sentences that talk about the existence or amount of something:

Jonossa on paljon ihmisiä. – There are many people in the queue.
Tänään on pitkä jono. – Today there is a long queue.
Täällä on jonoa. – There is (some) queue here / There is a queue here.

In “Jono on lyhyt tänään”, we’re just describing the queue, not talking about its existence or quantity, so the subject is nominative: jono.