millaisen

Millaisen is a Finnish interrogative adjective form of millainen, meaning “what kind of” or “what sort of.” It is used when asking about the type, quality, or nature of a noun, and it specifically appears before a noun in a genitive construction or in other contexts that require a genitive-like form. In Finnish, adjectives and interrogatives decline to agree with the noun in case and number, so millaisen is the genitive singular form used with a genitive noun, for example in millaisen auton ostin (what kind of car did I buy).

Common forms and usage

Millainen has several declined forms depending on case and number. The nominative singular form is millainen (as in Millainen auto tämä on? What kind of car is this?). The genitive singular form, used before a genitive noun, is millaisen (as in Millaisen auton ostin? What kind of car did I buy?). Other forms exist for different cases and numbers, such as millaiset in the nominative plural and millaisia in the partitive plural, reflecting the general Finnish pattern of adjective agreement with the noun.

Typical contexts

- Direct questions: Millainen sää on tänään? (What kind of weather is today?) Millaisen kahvin haluat? (What kind of coffee do you want?)

- Embedded questions: En tiedä millaisen lahjan ostaisin. (I don’t know what kind of gift I would buy.)

- Modifying various nouns: millaiset kirjat, millaisia astiat, millaiset kengät, etc.

See also

Millainen relates to other Finnish question words and the broader system of adjective declension, where the form changes to match case, number, and the grammatical role of the noun it modifies.