mikä tämä on?
/ˈmikæ ˈtæmæ ˈon/word by word
The English phrase "what is this?" is translated into Finnish as mikä tämä on?
mikä tämä on? is a question used to ask for the identity or name of an object.
Which one should you use?
Use mikä tämä on? when referring to an object that is physically close to the speaker, whereas mikä tuo on? is used for objects further away. Additionally, while mikä tämä on? is the grammatically standard way to identify an object, the form mitä tämä on? is also frequently used in spoken Finnish when asking about the nature or substance of something.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈmikæ ˈtæmæ ˈon/
Did you know?
- Because Finnish is a Uralic language, the word mikä is a distant relative of Hungarian words like 'mi', rather than being related to Indo-European words like 'what'.
- In casual spoken Finnish, the word tämä is often shortened to täm or replaced by the word tää.
- Finnish grammar allows the word order of mikä tämä on? to be rearranged without changing the basic meaning, though the standard order is most common.
Examples in context
- Mitä tää on? Tää on kahvikuppi.What is this? This is a coffee cup.
- Mikä tämä on?What is this?
- Anteeksi, mikä tämä on?Excuse me, what is this?
- Voi, mikä tämä on?Oh, what is this?
Example conversation
Laura shows a strange fruit to Juho in the kitchen.
- JuhoLaura, mikä tämä on?Laura, what is this?
- LauraSe on uusi hedelmä.It is a new fruit.
- JuhoOnko se hyvää?Is it good?
- LauraKyllä, se on tosi makeaa.Yes, it is very sweet.
