Adjectives: Agreement and Declension

01

The Adjective Copies the Noun's Ending

Whatever ending the noun takes, the adjective in front takes the same one.

• iso talo

  a big house (neither word has an ending)

• isossa talossa

  in a big house (both carry the "in" ending)

• kauniit kukat

  beautiful flowers (both plural)

• vanhoja kirjoja

  old books (both plural, both in the open-amount form)

• iso-ssa talo-ssa — one ending, written twice

02

Predicate Adjectives

After olla, the adjective agrees with the subject and goes plural when the subject does. With substances and with plural subjects it usually takes -a/-ä, the ending for an amount treated as open — which is why hot coffee is kuumaa rather than kuuma.

• Talo on iso.

  The house is big.

• Kukat ovat kauniita.

  The flowers are beautiful.

• Kahvi on kuumaa.

  The coffee is hot.

03

Comparison: Bigger and Biggest

-mpi makes "bigger", -in makes "biggest". Both results are still adjectives, so they go on agreeing with their noun and taking its endings.

• iso → isompi → isoin

  big → bigger → biggest

• Tämä auto on isompi kuin tuo.

  This car is bigger than that one.

• Asun isommassa talossa.

  I live in a bigger house.

04

Word Order

The adjective comes before its noun, just as in English, and any article-like word ("this", "that", a number) comes before the adjective.

• tämä vanha talo

  this old house

• kaksi pientä koiraa

  two small dogs