Learn Hardcore Finnish: Tällainen elokuva on hauska.

tämä = this (one)
- Tämä elokuva on hauska. = This movie is fun. (a specific movie)
tällainen elokuva = this kind of movie / a movie like this
- Focus is on the type or category of movie.

So in the sentence Tällainen elokuva on hauska, you’re saying that movies of this kind are fun, not just pointing at a single movie.

What is the -lainen (or -llainen) part in tällainen?

Tällainen is historically tämä + -llainen:

tämä = this
-lainen / -llainen = a suffix that often means “of that kind / belonging to / characteristic of”

You also see it in:

sellainen – that kind (of)
tuollainen – that kind (over there)
suomalainen – Finnish, a Finn (from Suomi = Finland)

In modern Finnish, you just learn tällainen as a single word meaning “this kind (of), like this.”

Why is there no word for a or the in the Finnish sentence?

Finnish doesn’t use articles (a/an, the) at all. The ideas of “a” and “the” are usually understood from context, word choice, and word order.

Tällainen elokuva on hauska.
- Can be translated as “A movie like this is fun” or “This kind of movie is fun.”

You choose a vs the in English based on what sounds natural in the context, but Finnish leaves that to context alone.

Is tällainen an adjective or a pronoun here?

In this sentence, tällainen works like an adjective modifying elokuva (“movie”):

tällainen elokuva = this kind of movie

Grammatically, tällainen belongs to the group of demonstrative pronouns, but when it stands before a noun (like here), it behaves adjectivally. You can think of it as a demonstrative adjective: “this kind (of)”.

Why are both elokuva and hauska in the same form (nominative singular)?

This is a typical “X is Y” sentence with the verb olla (to be):

Tällainen elokuva (subject, nominative singular)
on (is)
hauska (predicative adjective, nominative singular)

In Finnish, in such sentences, the subject and the predicative (the word after on/oli/ovat that describes the subject) are usually in the same number and case, here nominative singular:

Elokuva on hauska. – The movie is fun.
Tällainen elokuva on hauska. – A movie like this is fun.

So elokuva and hauska both appear in nominative singular because they refer to the same thing.

Why is it hauska, not hauskaa? What’s the difference?

Both hauska and hauskaa can appear after on, but they are used differently.

hauska (nominative): describing a clear, classifying property
- Tällainen elokuva on hauska.
  = This kind of movie is (a) fun one / is a funny movie.
- You’re saying the movie itself belongs to the category “fun/funny”.
hauskaa (partitive): often used for impersonal “it’s fun” or when the fun is more like an experience or amount of fun
- On hauskaa katsoa elokuvia. = It’s fun to watch movies.
- Elokuvan katsominen on hauskaa. = Watching a movie is fun.

With a concrete, countable noun as subject (elokuva), the neutral choice is hauska. Hauskaa here would sound odd or shift focus away from classifying the movie itself.

Could the sentence be Tämä elokuva on hauska instead? What would change?

Yes, and it changes the meaning slightly:

Tämä elokuva on hauska.
- This movie is fun.
- Refers to a specific individual film you’re pointing to or talking about.
Tällainen elokuva on hauska.
- This kind of movie is fun / A movie like this is fun.
- Talks about the type or style of movie, possibly using one movie as an example of the whole type.

So tämä = this (one), tällainen = this kind (of).

Can Tällainen elokuva on hauska refer to movies in general, or just to one movie?

Grammatically it’s singular (“this kind of movie”), but in context it often has a general meaning:

You might be saying: “Movies of this type are fun.”
English does the same with singular: “A horror movie is scary.” (really means horror movies in general).

So Tällainen elokuva on hauska can describe a type of movie in general, even though the form is singular.

How would you say “Movies like this are fun” in Finnish?

You’d make everything plural:

Tällaiset elokuvat ovat hauskoja.

Breakdown:

tällaiset – these kinds (plural of tällainen)
elokuvat – movies (plural of elokuva)
ovat – are (plural of on)
hauskoja – fun/funny (partitive plural of hauska)

In plural, the predicative adjective commonly appears in partitive plural (hauskoja) in this type of generic statement.

Can the word order be changed, for example Elokuva tällainen on hauska?

Normal, neutral Finnish keeps the adjective (or adjective-like word) before the noun:

Tällainen elokuva on hauska. ✅ natural
Elokuva tällainen on hauska. ❌ sounds odd in normal speech; could work only in very marked, poetic or stylized language.

You can move other parts around to emphasize them, but tällainen elokuva as a unit is the standard order. For instance:

Hauska on tällainen elokuva. – Very marked/poetic, emphasizing hauska.
In everyday Finnish, you would stick with Tällainen elokuva on hauska.

What’s the difference between hauska and kiva here? Could I say Tällainen elokuva on kiva?

Yes, you can say:

Tällainen elokuva on kiva.

Both hauska and kiva can be translated as “fun / nice”, but they have slightly different flavors:

hauska – funny, amusing, entertaining (often implying humor or that it makes you laugh or enjoy yourself)
kiva – nice, pleasant, enjoyable (more general, softer, often used in casual speech)

So:

Tällainen elokuva on hauska. – This kind of movie is fun/funny/entertaining.
Tällainen elokuva on kiva. – This kind of movie is nice/pleasant to watch.

How do you pronounce Tällainen elokuva on hauska?

Approximate pronunciation, broken into syllables (primary stress always on the first syllable of each word):

Täl-lai-nen – tä like in cat but longer/more open; ai like English eye
e-lo-ku-va – all short vowels: eh-lo-ku-va
on – like English on, but a short o
haus-ka – hau like how, ska as in skate (but short vowels)

So together, somewhat like:

TÄL-lai-nen E-lo-ku-va on HAUS-ka

All vowels are clearly pronounced, no schwa, and consonants are “crisp” and short here (no double consonants).