millainen

Millainen is a Finnish interrogative determiner and adjective meaning “what kind of” or “what sort of.” It is used to ask about the type, quality, appearance, or character of a noun, and it can describe people, objects, situations, and more. In a sentence, millainen precedes the noun it modifies, and it inflects to agree with the noun’s case and number.

Grammatically, millainen is part of Finnish question words and declines like other adjectives and determiners. The forms depend on the noun they describe and the grammatical case. For example, in the nominative singular you say millainen auto? (What kind of car?), in the partitive singular you say millaista ruokaa? (What kind of food?), and in the nominative plural you say millaiset kengät? (What kind of shoes?). The noun following millainen carries its own case endings, while millainen itself changes to reflect the case and number of that noun phrase.

Common uses include asking about physical properties, type, or character: Millainen sää on tänään? (What kind of weather is today?), Millainen henkilö hän on? (What kind of person is he?). It can also appear in questions about preferences or choices: Millainen auto sinulla on? or Millaisia kirjoja sinulla on? (What kinds of books do you have?). In addition to questions, millainen can appear in exclamations or in descriptive phrases within both spoken and written Finnish.

Related forms and variants exist for different grammatical contexts, and speakers may also use more formal or nuanced constructions such as minkälainen or minkälaatuinen to express comparable meanings. See also other Finnish interrogatives like mikä and mitä, which serve different functions in identifying or querying.