Adjective Agreement
Adjective agreement: adjective matches noun in case and number
I can use adjectives agreeing with nouns.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Asun isossa talossa.
I live in a big house.
Näen kauniin kukkasen.
I see a beautiful flower.
Vanhat talot ovat kauniita.
The old houses are beautiful.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Adjective Agreement
Finnish adjectives agree with their noun in case and number. If the noun is in inessive, the adjective must be too: isossa talossa (in the big house). This is like Russian/Czech but more extensive (15 cases!).
Not declining the adjective (using nominative adjective with declined noun). Applying wrong case ending to adjective.
Common Error Patterns
Adjective not agreeing in case
Adjective MUST be in the same case as the noun it modifies.
Asun isossa talossa.
I live in a big house.
Both adjective and noun in inessive: iso → isossa, talo → talossa.
Näen kauniin kukkasen.
I see a beautiful flower.
Both in genitive (completed object): kaunis → kauniin, kukkanen → kukkasen.
Vanhat talot ovat kauniita.
The old houses are beautiful.
Vanhat talot: both in nominative plural. Kauniita: partitive plural (predicate adjective).
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises