Tämä leikki on hauska.

This game is fun.

Breakdown of Tämä leikki on hauska.

• olla: to be
• tämä: this
• hauska: fun
• leikki: the game

Questions & Answers about Tämä leikki on hauska.

What does tämä mean, and how is it different from se and tuo?

Tämä means this (near the speaker).

Finnish has three very common words that all often translate as this/that/it:

• tämä = this (physically or mentally close to the speaker)

  • Tämä leikki on hauska. – This game is fun.

• tuo = that (over there) (visible but not so close)

  • Tuo leikki on hauska. – That game (over there) is fun.

• se = that / it (already known from context, or not important where it is)

  • Se leikki on hauska. – That game is fun / The game is fun.

In your sentence, tämä leikki picks out a specific game that is “here” or very present in the situation: this game.

Why is leikki in this form and not leikin or leikkiä?

Because leikki is the subject of the sentence, so it’s in the nominative singular (the basic dictionary form).

The noun leikki (“play”, “(children’s) game”) has, for example:

• leikki – nominative singular (subject form)
• leikin – genitive singular (of the game)
• leikkiä – partitive singular (some (of) the game / to play in some structures)

In Tämä leikki on hauska:

• tämä leikki = this game (subject, nominative)
• on = is
• hauska = fun

So you must use the nominative leikki, not leikin or leikkiä, because you are just talking about the game as a whole subject: the game is fun.

What exactly does leikki mean, and how is it different from peli or lelu?

These three are easy to mix up:

• leikki = play / (children’s) game / playing activity

  • Often about free, imaginative, or children’s play.
  • Lapset leikkivät. – The children are playing.
  • Tämä leikki on hauska. – This (play/game activity) is fun.

• peli = game (with rules, like board games, sports, video games)

  • Tämä peli on hauska. – This game (e.g. a board game) is fun.

• lelu = toy

  • Tämä lelu on hauska. – This toy is fun.

Your sentence with leikki usually suggests something like a children’s game or “play” activity (not necessarily a formal game with rules). If you mean a formal game (a board game, computer game, sport, etc.), peli is often more natural: Tämä peli on hauska.

Why is it hauska and not hauskaa at the end?

Because hauska is an adjective in the nominative singular, matching a whole, countable subject (tämä leikki).

In Tämä leikki on hauska:

• tämä leikki – nominative singular subject
• hauska – nominative singular adjective describing that subject

Basic rule for beginner Finnish:

• If the subject is in nominative singular and you’re just describing its quality, the adjective after on is usually also nominative singular:
  
  • Tämä kirja on hyvä. – This book is good.
  • Tuo talo on kallis. – That house is expensive.
  • Tämä leikki on hauska. – This game is fun.

Hauskaa is the partitive form. It can also appear in sentences like:

• On hauskaa leikkiä. – It is fun to play.
• Täällä on hauskaa. – It is fun here.

There the idea is more like “there is fun-ness” / “being here is fun”, not “this specific game is fun (as a whole object)”.

So in your exact sentence, the normal, neutral form is hauska, not hauskaa.

Do adjectives have to agree with nouns in Finnish? What is agreeing with what here?

Yes, Finnish adjectives normally agree with the noun they describe in number and case.

In your sentence:

• tämä – demonstrative adjective, nominative singular
• leikki – noun, nominative singular
• hauska – predicate adjective, nominative singular

So all the “describing words” for the subject are in the nominative singular, because the subject is a single, whole thing (one game).

Compare:

• Hauska leikki – a fun game (both nominative singular)
• Hauskat leikit – fun games (both nominative plural)
• Hauskassa leikissä – in a fun game (both inessive singular: -ssa)

In Tämä leikki on hauska, hauska is not before the noun but after on, yet it still matches the subject in number and case (nominative singular).

Is on just the Finnish word for is? Does it change with the subject?

Yes. On is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb olla (to be), and it does change with person/number.

Present forms of olla:

• minä olen – I am
• sinä olet – you (sing.) are
• hän / se on – he / she / it is
• me olemme – we are
• te olette – you (pl.) are
• he / ne ovat – they are

In Tämä leikki on hauska, the subject is third person singular (tämä leikki = “this game”), so you use on.

You normally cannot drop on in standard written Finnish; you need it in the sentence: Tämä leikki on hauska.

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Tämä on hauska leikki or Hauska leikki tämä on?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible, though different orders can have slightly different emphasis.

All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Tämä leikki on hauska.

   • Very neutral: This game is fun.
   • Topic = this game, new information = it is fun.

2. Tämä on hauska leikki.

   • Also natural: This is a fun game.
   • You are presenting “this” as belonging to the category “fun game”.

3. Hauska leikki tämä on.

   • More emphatic / stylistic, almost “Yoda-like” or poetic:
   • A fun game, this is.

But you cannot freely split things like tämä and leikki in unnatural ways:

• ✗ Tämä on leikki hauska. – ungrammatical / very strange

Safe, everyday patterns you can use:

• Tämä leikki on hauska.
• Tämä on hauska leikki.

How would I say “This game is not fun” in Finnish?

You use the negative verb ei + ole:

• Tämä leikki ei ole hauska. – This game is not fun.

Structure:

• Tämä leikki – this game (subject)
• ei – negative verb (3rd person here)
• ole – basic form of olla used in negation
• hauska – fun

Note that in the negative, Finnish does not change hauska to partitive; it stays hauska:

• Tämä kirja ei ole hyvä. – This book is not good.
• Tämä leikki ei ole hauska. – This game is not fun.

How do I say “These games are fun” using the same words?

You need the plural forms of tämä and leikki, and a plural form of olla and hauska:

• Nämä leikit ovat hauskoja. – These games are fun.

Breakdown:

• nämä – plural of tämä (these)
• leikit – plural of leikki (games), nominative plural
• ovat – 3rd person plural of olla (are)
• hauskoja – partitive plural of hauska

With plural subjects describing a quality, Finnish very often uses partitive plural for the adjective (hauskoja, kivoja, kalliita, etc.):

• Nämä kirjat ovat hyviä. – These books are good.
• Nuo talot ovat kalliita. – Those houses are expensive.
• Nämä leikit ovat hauskoja. – These games are fun.

How do you pronounce Tämä leikki on hauska?

One possible IPA transcription is:

• [ˈtæmæ ˈleikːi on ˈhɑuskɑ]

Some tips:

• Stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
  TÄ-mä LEIK-ki on HAUS-ka

• ä is like the a in English cat.
  tämä ≈ tæ-mæ

• ei in lei- is like English ay in day: lei ≈ lay.

• kk in leikki is a long k; hold it slightly longer than in English.
  Compare: leiki [ˈleikɪ] vs. leikki [ˈleikːi].

• au in hauska is a true diphthong: say a then u smoothly, like how but clearer.

• Finnish consonants are generally pronounced as written, and vowels are short but pure (no glide).