Learn Hardcore Finnish: Tämä sarja on pitkä.

Tämä sarja = this series (the one I’m pointing at / currently talking about very specifically)
Se sarja = that series (further away, or just “that one we mentioned”)
If you’ve already said sarja, you can later just say Se on pitkä = It is long.

So tämä is more demonstrative and “pointing” than se in standard Finnish.

What exactly does sarja mean here? Is it specifically a TV show?

Sarja literally means series. Depending on context, it can be:

a TV series / TV show
a book series
a series of events
a set or line of products, etc.

In everyday talk, if someone says tämä sarja on pitkä while talking about TV, it’s naturally understood as this TV series is long (many episodes or long seasons).

Why isn’t there any word for “a” or “the” in tämä sarja on pitkä?

Finnish does not have articles (no a / an / the at all).

tämä sarja can mean:
- this series
- this show (English has to choose an article; Finnish doesn’t.)

Definiteness (whether something is “the” or “a”) is shown by context, word choice, and word order, not by special article words.

What is on here, grammatically?

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

Finnish full paradigm (present tense):

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

In Tämä sarja on pitkä:

subject: tämä sarja (this series)
verb: on (is)
predicative adjective: pitkä (long)

You normally cannot drop on in standard written Finnish.

Why is pitkä at the end? Can I change the word order?

The basic neutral word order in such sentences is:

[Subject] [Verb] [Complement]
→ Tämä sarja on pitkä = This series is long.

You can change the order for emphasis or stylistic reasons:

Sarja on pitkä. – The series is long. (more general statement)
Pitkä tämä sarja on! – Long this series is! (very emphatic, a bit like complaining or exclaiming)

But Tämä sarja on pitkä is the most normal, neutral way to say it.

Why is the adjective pitkä in that form? Does it agree with sarja?

Yes. In Tämä sarja on pitkä, both sarja and pitkä are in the nominative singular:

sarja – nominative singular (subject)
pitkä – nominative singular (predicative adjective)

In Finnish, an adjective usually agrees with the noun in number and case when it’s directly describing it or used as a predicative like here.

Compare:

Tämä sarja on pitkä. – This series is long.
Nämä sarjat ovat pitkiä. – These series are long.
- sarjat – plural nominative
- pitkiä – plural partitive, used here because of plural predicative (typical pattern)

So the form pitkä matches the singular subject sarja in this simple statement.

Does pitkä mean “long” in time as well as in distance/size?

Yes. Pitkä covers both physical and temporal length:

pitkä tie – a long road (distance)
pitkä mies – a tall man (physically long in height)
pitkä elokuva – a long movie (time)
tämä sarja on pitkä – this series is long (many episodes, long seasons, or long-running story)

Related words:

pitkään – for a long time
- Se kestää pitkään. – It lasts for a long time.
kauan – for a long time (more about duration, often interchangeable with pitkään in many contexts)

So pitkä itself is the basic adjective “long/tall,” and context tells you whether it’s about size or duration.

Could Tämä sarja on pitkä mean “This series has long episodes” as well as “This series has many episodes”?

Yes, the sentence itself is ambiguous in that way. Pitkä just says that the series is “long”:

It can mean many episodes.
It can mean each episode is long.
It can even mean it feels long (slow pacing).

To be more specific, you might say:

Tässä sarjassa on paljon jaksoja. – This series has many episodes.
Tämän sarjan jaksot ovat pitkiä. – The episodes of this series are long.

But in casual conversation, Tämä sarja on pitkä is often enough, and context clarifies the exact nuance.

Can I just say Se on pitkä instead of Tämä sarja on pitkä?

Yes, if the series has already been identified in the conversation or situation, you can just say:

Se on pitkä. – It is long.

This is natural when both speakers know which series you mean.

Use tämä sarja when you:

are introducing it for the first time,
are pointing at it (on screen, in a list, etc.), or
want to contrast it with other series (e.g. Tämä sarja on pitkä, mutta tuo on lyhyt. – This series is long, but that one is short.)

Are there any case endings in Tämä sarja on pitkä?

All the words are in the nominative (the basic dictionary form):

tämä – nominative singular demonstrative
sarja – nominative singular noun
pitkä – nominative singular adjective

There are no visible case endings here because this is a simple “X is Y” sentence.

If you changed the sentence, you’d see cases:

Tässä sarjassa on monta jaksoa. – In this series there are many episodes.
- tässä – in this (inessive case of tämä)
- sarjassa – in the series (inessive case of sarja)

So in the original sentence, everything stays in nominative because it’s just Subject – verb “to be” – adjective.

How do you pronounce Tämä sarja on pitkä?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-like hints):

Tämä – TAE-ma
- ä like a in cat
- stress on TÄ
sarja – SAR-ya
- r is trilled/tapped
- j is like English y in yes
on – like English on, but shorter
pitkä – PIT-kae
- t is clear, not softened
- final ä again like a in cat

Finnish stress is always on the first syllable of each word:
TÄ-mä SAR-ja on PIT-kä.