Tämä kahvila on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen.

This café is ordinary but peaceful.

Breakdown of Tämä kahvila on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen.

• olla: to be
• tämä: this
• mutta: but
• rauhallinen: peaceful
• kahvila: the café
• tavallinen: usual

Questions & Answers about Tämä kahvila on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen.

Why is it tämä kahvila and not just kahvila, or tämä on kahvila?

• Tämä kahvila = this café (in particular) is …
  You are talking about one specific café that both speaker and listener can identify (maybe the one you are in or pointing at).

• Kahvila on tavallinen would be more like the café is ordinary or a café is ordinary depending on context. It’s less clearly “this one right here”.

• Tämä on kahvila means this is a café (you are identifying what “this” is). It answers the question What is this?, not What is this café like?

So:

• Tämä on kahvila. → This is a café.
• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen. → This café is ordinary.

What exactly does kahvila mean? How is it different from kahvi or ravintola?

• kahvi = coffee (the drink)
• kahvila = a café / coffee shop
  A place where you drink coffee, tea, maybe eat pastries or light snacks.
• ravintola = restaurant
  More about full meals; usually more substantial food than a typical kahvila.

So Tämä kahvila is specifically this café / coffee shop, not this coffee and not this restaurant.

What form is on, and why not olla?

• olla is the infinitive: to be.
• on is the 3rd person singular present tense of olla: is.

The subject tämä kahvila is 3rd person singular, so you use on:

• Minä olen – I am
• Sinä olet – You are
• Hän / se on – He / she / it is
• Tämä kahvila on – This café is

So on corresponds to English is here.

Why do both tavallinen and rauhallinen have the ending -nen, and why are they in that form?

1. -nen is a very common adjective ending in Finnish.

   • tavallinen = ordinary
   • rauhallinen = peaceful / quiet

2. Adjectives in Finnish agree with the noun in number and case when they are:

   • attributive adjectives (tavallinen kahvila = an ordinary café), or
   • predicative adjectives that describe the subject (Kahvila on tavallinen = the café is ordinary).

In Tämä kahvila on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen:

• Subject: tämä kahvila → nominative singular
• Predicative adjectives: tavallinen, rauhallinen → also nominative singular

That’s why both are in their basic -nen form and look the same grammatically.

Why is there no a or the in this sentence? How do articles work in Finnish?

Finnish has no articles like English a/an or the.

Definiteness is shown by:

• context,
• word order,
• demonstratives like tämä (this), se (that), tuo (that over there).

So:

• kahvila on tavallinen could mean the café is ordinary or a café is ordinary, depending on context.
• tämä kahvila on tavallinen clearly means this café is ordinary.

You don’t add any separate word for a or the.

Should there be a comma before mutta?

In standard written Finnish, a comma is usually placed before mutta:

• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta rauhallinen.

This is the form you’ll see in most careful writing and in grammar rules.

In very simple examples, teaching materials, or informal writing, people sometimes leave the comma out, especially in short sentences like this. As a learner, it is safer and more correct to include the comma.

Why is it mutta and not ja or vaan? What’s the difference?

• mutta = but / however, expressing contrast.

  • Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta rauhallinen.
    → It’s ordinary, but (at least) it’s peaceful.

• ja = and, just adds things together without contrast.

  • Tämä kahvila on tavallinen ja rauhallinen.
    → It’s ordinary and peaceful (both properties, no “surprise” or contrast).

• vaan is used mainly after a negation, to correct or replace something:

  • Se ei ole tavallinen, vaan erikoinen.
    → It’s not ordinary, but rather special.

In your sentence there is no negation, so vaan would be wrong.
You choose mutta instead of ja because you want to highlight a contrast or a “yes, but…” feeling.

Can I say Tämä kahvila on tavallinen mutta se on rauhallinen? Is that incorrect?

It’s grammatical, but it sounds a bit heavier and more explicit.

• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta rauhallinen.
  → Normal, natural, compact.

• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta se on rauhallinen.
  → Emphasises the second part a bit more, almost like: → “This café is ordinary, but it is peaceful, though.”

In everyday Finnish, the verb on and the subject se are usually not repeated when both parts clearly share the same subject and verb. So your version is possible, but the original is more natural.

Can the word order be changed, for example Kahvila tämä on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen?

Normal, neutral word order here is:

• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta rauhallinen.
  (Subject – Verb – Predicative)

Some alternative word orders:

• Tämä kahvila on rauhallinen mutta tavallinen.
  → Still fine; just lists the adjectives in another order.

• Rauhallinen mutta tavallinen on tämä kahvila.
  → Possible in more poetic or emphatic style, stressing rauhallinen mutta tavallinen.

But:

• Kahvila tämä on tavallinen mutta rauhallinen sounds quite unnatural in modern standard Finnish prose.
  Putting tämä after kahvila like this is not typical; it may appear in special emphasis or poetic / archaic style, but you should avoid it as a learner.

So for everyday use, stick to Tämä kahvila on … at the start.

Could I say Tämä kahvila on tavallinen ja rauhallinen instead? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can, and it is grammatically correct:

• Tämä kahvila on tavallinen ja rauhallinen.
  → This café is ordinary and peaceful.

Nuance:

• ja simply adds both qualities: it’s both ordinary and peaceful.
• mutta suggests a contrast or a bit of a “yes, but at least…” tone:
  • “It’s ordinary, but (on the positive side) it’s peaceful.”

So the meaning is close, but mutta carries more contrast or a slightly more evaluative tone.

Why aren’t the adjectives in the partitive case, like tavallista and rauhallista?

In Tämä kahvila on tavallinen, mutta rauhallinen, the subject tämä kahvila is a single, countable thing in the nominative, and you are simply stating what it is like.
For this basic type of statement, the predicative adjective normally also appears in the nominative:

• Kahvila on tavallinen.
• Auto on kallis. – The car is expensive.
• Huone on pieni. – The room is small.

The partitive form of a predicative adjective (like hyvää, kuumaa, tavallista) is used in more specific situations, for example:

• With uncountable or mass nouns:
  
  • Ruoka on hyvää. – The food is good (as a substance, in general).
• In certain comparative or “incomplete” or “ongoing” meanings:
  
  • Kahvila on tavallista parempi. – The café is better than ordinary.

But Kahvila on tavallista on its own would be incorrect or at least incomplete.
So in your sentence, nominative tavallinen and rauhallinen are the normal and correct forms.