Kylmä voi tappaa.

Cold can kill.

Breakdown of Kylmä voi tappaa.

• kylmä: cold
• voida: can
• tappaa: to kill

Questions & Answers about Kylmä voi tappaa.

What part of speech is kylmä here? Is it an adjective or a noun?

Here kylmä is originally an adjective meaning cold, but it is being used like a noun: the cold / cold weather / cold conditions.

This is very common in Finnish. Adjectives can stand on their own when the noun is understood from context.

So in this sentence, kylmä does not mean cold as in a cold object; it means something more like the cold in general.

Why is kylmä in the basic form?

Because it is the subject of the sentence, and subjects are often in the nominative (basic dictionary form).

So:

• kylmä = nominative singular
• it functions as the thing that can kill

In other words, the cold is the grammatical subject here.

What does voi mean here?

Voi here is the present tense of the verb voida, which usually means can, to be able to, or sometimes may.

So:

• voida = to be able to / can
• voi = can / is able to

In this sentence, voi expresses possibility or ability: the cold can kill.

Why is tappaa in that form and not changed to match the subject?