Questions & Answers about Tämä tauko on riittävä.
Word by word:
- Tämä – demonstrative pronoun, nominative singular: this. It points to a specific thing.
- tauko – noun, nominative singular: break. It is the subject of the sentence (the thing being described).
- on – verb, 3rd person singular of olla: is. It is the linking verb / copula.
- riittävä – adjective, nominative singular: sufficient, adequate. It is a predicative adjective, describing the subject tauko.
In Finnish, with the verb olla (to be), both the subject (tämä tauko) and its describing word (riittävä) usually appear in the nominative in a simple positive statement like this.
Finnish has no articles like English a / an or the. Nouns appear without them, and context shows whether something is definite or indefinite.
- tauko can mean a break, the break, or just break in general, depending on what you’re talking about.
- In Tämä tauko on riittävä, the demonstrative tämä (this) already makes the meaning specific: this (particular) break is sufficient.
So you do not add any separate word corresponding to English a or the.
All three are possible, but they say slightly different things:
Tämä tauko on riittävä.
Literally: This break is sufficient.
You explicitly name what this is (a break).Tämä on riittävä.
Literally: This is sufficient.
You do not say what this is; it’s understood from the situation (this is enough).Tauko on riittävä.
Literally: The break is sufficient. / A break is sufficient.
You are talking about a break in general or a specific one known from context, but you are not pointing to it as “this one”.
So tämä tauko combines both: you identify the type of thing (a break) and point to a specific instance (this break).
Yes, Tämä on riittävä tauko is perfectly correct, and the meaning is very close. The difference is in structure and focus:
Tämä tauko on riittävä.
Subject: tämä tauko (this break).
Predicate: riittävä (sufficient).
→ As for this particular break: it is sufficient.Tämä on riittävä tauko.
Subject: tämä (this).
Predicate: riittävä tauko (a sufficient break).
→ This (thing) is a sufficient break.
In everyday speech, both can often translate as This break is enough, but in the second version you first point to something (tämä) and then classify it as a sufficient break.
riittävä is an adjective: sufficient, adequate. It describes a noun:
- riittävä tauko – a sufficient break
- Tämä tauko on riittävä. – This break is sufficient.
riittävästi is an adverb: enough, sufficiently. It modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, not nouns:
- Nukuin riittävästi. – I slept enough.
- Se on riittävän pitkä. – It is long enough.
In Tämä tauko on riittävä, the sentence is describing the noun tauko, so the adjective form riittävä is required.
Because this is a simple copular sentence (X is Y) in the affirmative:
- Subject: tämä tauko – nominative
- Copula: on
- Predicative adjective: riittävä – also nominative, agreeing with the subject in number and case
In Finnish, with olla in a basic positive statement (X on Y), both sides are usually in the nominative:
- Hän on iloinen. – He/She is happy.
- Auto on kallis. – The car is expensive.
- Tämä tauko on riittävä. – This break is sufficient.
Other cases (like partitive) can appear with different meanings (e.g. with negation or certain aspectual nuances), but the neutral descriptive pattern uses the nominative on both sides.
On is the 3rd person singular form of olla (to be):
- minä olen – I am
- sinä olet – you (sg) are
- hän / se on – he / she / it is
- me olemme – we are
- te olette – you (pl) are
- he / ne ovat – they are
The subject tämä tauko is third person singular, so on is the correct form:
- Tämä tauko on riittävä. – This break is sufficient.
If the subject were plural, the verb and adjective would change:
- Nämä tauot ovat riittäviä. – These breaks are sufficient.
(nämä – these, tauot – breaks, ovat – are, riittäviä – sufficient, partitive plural used here with a more “some/any sufficient ones” type nuance.)
To say This break is not sufficient, you use the negative verb ei plus ole:
- Tämä tauko ei ole riittävä. – This break is not sufficient.
Structure:
- ei – negative auxiliary, agrees in person/number:
- en ole, et ole, ei ole, emme ole, ette ole, eivät ole
- ole – the connegative form of olla (used with ei)
You do not say *on ei. The correct order is always ei ole, with ei in front.
You can, but the neutral word order is:
- Tämä tauko on riittävä. – Subject – Verb – Predicative
Other orders are possible for emphasis:
Riittävä on tämä tauko.
Emphasises riittävä: Sufficient, this break is (at least). Often sounds a bit poetic or contrastive.Tämä tauko riittävä on.
Very marked, unusual in normal speech; might appear in stylised or poetic language.
For everyday Finnish, use Tämä tauko on riittävä as the natural, unmarked order.
Yes, a very natural alternative is to use the verb riittää (to be enough), instead of the adjective riittävä:
- Tämä tauko riittää. – This break is enough / This break will do.
Comparison:
Tämä tauko on riittävä. – This break is sufficient (adequate).
Slightly more formal/explicitly evaluating adequacy.Tämä tauko riittää. – This break is enough / will suffice.
Very common in spoken language and everyday use.
Key points:
Stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
- TÄ-mä TAU-ko on RIIT-tä-vä
Vowels:
- ä is a front vowel, like the a in English cat (but held pure, not a diphthong).
- au in tauko is a diphthong, something like ow in cow.
Consonants:
- tt in riittävä is a long consonant; hold the t slightly longer than in English.
Say it slowly at first:
- TÄ-mä TAU-ko on RIIT-tä-vä
Then gradually speed up, keeping the first-syllable stress and the long tt.