Tämä kurssi on loistava.

to be

Breakdown of Tämä kurssi on loistava.

• tämä: this
• kurssi: the course
• loistava: great

Questions & Answers about Tämä kurssi on loistava.

Why is it “Tämä kurssi” and not “Tämä on kurssi”?

Both are correct Finnish, but they mean slightly different things and are used in different situations.

• Tämä kurssi on loistava.
  Literally: This course is excellent.
  You are talking about a specific course that both you and the listener already know.

• Tämä on kurssi.
  Literally: This is a course.
  You are identifying what something is. For example, if someone asks what kind of thing it is, you answer that it’s a course (not a book, not a lecture, etc.).

So:

• “Tämä kurssi on loistava” = describing a known course.
• “Tämä on kurssi” = saying that an unknown “this” is a course.

What case is “kurssi” in, and why isn’t it “kurssia” or “kurssin”?

Kurssi is in the nominative singular, the basic dictionary form.

In sentences with “to be” (olla) where you describe or classify the subject, both the subject and the complement are usually in the nominative:

• Tämä kurssi (nominative) on loistava (nominative).
• Auto on punainen. – The car is red.
• Opettaja on ystävällinen. – The teacher is friendly.

You would use:

• kurssia (partitive) in sentences like Opiskelen kurssia – I am studying a course (object of a verb).
• kurssin (genitive) in sentences like Pidän tästä kurssista – I like this course (part of a postpositional phrase with -sta).

Here we just need the plain nominative because we’re saying what the course is like, not what is being done to it.

Why is the adjective “loistava” at the end? Could I say “loistava kurssi” instead?

Yes, you can say both, but they are different structures:

1. Tämä kurssi on loistava.

   • Full sentence with a verb (on = “is”).
   • Loistava is a predicative adjective, describing the subject.

2. Loistava kurssi.

   • Noun phrase only, no verb.
   • Loistava is an attributive adjective in front of the noun, like “an excellent course”.

If you want a complete sentence that sounds like normal, neutral Finnish, you usually use:

• Tämä kurssi on loistava.

Whereas loistava kurssi might appear in:

• Titles, bullet points, notes: Loistava kurssi!
• Longer sentences: Tämä on loistava kurssi. – This is an excellent course.

Does “loistava” change form like adjectives in some other languages (for gender, etc.)?

Finnish adjectives do not change for gender (Finnish has no grammatical gender), but they do change for:

• Number (singular / plural)
• Case (nominative, genitive, partitive, etc.)

They usually agree with the noun they describe.

Singular:

• Tämä kurssi on loistava. – This course is excellent.

Plural:

• Nämä kurssit ovat loistavia. – These courses are excellent.
  
  • Kurssit = nominative plural
  • Loistavia = partitive plural, because with plural + “to be” + quality, the predicative often appears in partitive plural.

So no gender changes, but there is agreement in number and case, depending on the structure.

Why is the verb “on” used here, and does it change with different subjects?

On is the third person singular form of the verb olla (to be) in the present tense.

• Minä olen – I am
• Sinä olet – You are (sg.)
• Hän/se on – He/she/it is
• Me olemme – We are
• Te olette – You are (pl./formal)
• He/ne ovat – They are

In Tämä kurssi on loistava, the subject is tämä kurssi, which is third person singular, so you use on.

If the subject were plural:

• Nämä kurssit ovat loistavia. – These courses are excellent.

Could I drop “tämä” and just say “Kurssi on loistava”?

Yes. That is perfectly correct and often more natural if it’s already clear which course you are talking about from context.

• Kurssi on loistava. – The course is excellent.

Use tämä kurssi when you specifically want to stress this one (as opposed to some other course), like:

• When comparing: Tämä kurssi on loistava, mutta tuo toinen on tylsä.
  – This course is excellent, but that other one is boring.

What is the difference between “Tämä kurssi on loistava” and “Tämä on loistava kurssi”?

Both are correct, but the focus is a bit different:

1. Tämä kurssi on loistava.

   • Literally: This course is excellent.
   • Focus: the quality of this specific course.

2. Tämä on loistava kurssi.

   • Literally: This is an excellent course.
   • Focus: you first point to “this”, then classify it as “an excellent course”.

In many everyday contexts they are almost interchangeable, but:

• If you’re already talking about “this course” specifically, Tämä kurssi on loistava sounds slightly more natural.
• If you’re introducing or presenting a course, Tämä on loistava kurssi works very well.

How do you pronounce “Tämä kurssi on loistava”?

Rough guide using English-like hints:

• Tämä ≈ TAH-ma

  • ä is like a in cat but a bit longer and clearer.
  • Stress on the first syllable: TÄ-mä.

• kurssi ≈ KOOR-see, but:

  • u is like oo in too (but short).
  • r is tapped/rolled.
  • ss is a long s sound: hold the s a bit longer than in English.
  • Stress on KUR: KUR-ssi.

• on ≈ on in on top (short o).

• loistava ≈ LOY-sta-va:

  • loi a bit like English loy in loyal.
  • a again like a in cat, but clearer.
  • Stress on the first syllable: LOI-sta-va.

Finnish stress is almost always on the first syllable of each word, and vowels are pronounced clearly and evenly.

What’s the difference between “tämä”, “tää”, and “toi”?

• tämä – standard written Finnish, meaning “this (near me/us)”.
• tää – very common in spoken Finnish, the colloquial form of tämä.
• toi – colloquial form of tuo, meaning “that (a bit further away)”.

In standard written language you’d say:

• Tämä kurssi on loistava. – This course is excellent.

In everyday spoken language, you might hear:

• Tää kurssi on loistava. – same meaning, more casual.

And when contrasting:

• Tämä kurssi on loistava, mutta tuo kurssi on tylsä.
  (spoken: Tää kurssi on loistava, mut toi kurssi on tylsä.)

How do you make the sentence negative, like “This course is not excellent”?

Finnish uses a special negative verb (ei) plus the main verb olla in a special “connegative” form.

• Tämä kurssi on loistava. – This course is excellent.
• Tämä kurssi ei ole loistava. – This course is not excellent.

Pattern:

• [Subject] + ei + ole + [adjective]

Examples:

• Kurssi ei ole vaikea. – The course is not difficult.
• Tämä ei ole helppo kurssi. – This is not an easy course.

Why does “kurssi” have two s’s? Does that matter?

Yes, it matters a lot in Finnish. Consonant length can change the meaning of a word.

• kur.si vs. kurs.si – the ss is a long consonant.
• kurssi (with ss) is the correct spelling and means “course”.

If you wrote kur si with just one s, it would be a different word (or not a Finnish word at all). In pronunciation:

• Single s: short, like English bus.
• Double ss: hold the s noticeably longer, like saying bus-stop but stretching the s: bussstop.

So kurssi must have ss both in spelling and in speech.

Is “loistava” very strong, like “awesome”, or more like “good”?

Loistava is quite strong and positive. It’s usually closer to:

• excellent
• brilliant
• fantastic

It’s stronger than just hyvä (good).

Rough scale:

• hyvä – good
• tosi hyvä – very good
• loistava / erinomainen / mahtava – excellent / great / fantastic

So Tämä kurssi on loistava expresses clear enthusiasm, not just mild approval.