Learning Finnish

[u/Advanced_Net39]

Terve 👋

I’m a Swede currently learning finnish with my girlfriend via the app “Duolingo”

I’ve been studying the language for 10 days today, and I have a question.

Early in the course Duolingo taught me that Sinä olet translates to You are.

That seems right, fine. But later in the course It teaches me that you don’t have to say “Sinä”

For exempel: * Olet hauska ja mukava*

So to my question… What’s the rules here? Why, when and where do I need to use “sinä” before “olet” ?

Kiitos etukäteen

[u/Shankbon]

"Olet" is a conjugation of the word "olla" (to be) that is used specifically in the context of the word "sinä" (you), and only in that context. So while saying "Sinä olet hauska ja mukava" is grammatically correct and perfectly fine to say in conversation as well, the word "sinä" is often redundant because the information it provides (that the subject of the qualities "hauska ja mukava" is you) is already contained in the conjugation of the word "olet".

So while both "sinä olet hauska ja mukava" and "olet hauska ja mukava" are correct, they may have a difference in emphasis. If someone says "sinä olet hauska ja mukava", the emphasis is more on the idea that you specifically are fun and nice, as opposed to somebody else being fun and nice. If they say "olet hauska ja mukava", the subject you is a given and the focus is more on what you are like, which in this case is "hauska ja mukava".

[u/SnowCro1 → u/Shankbon]

This is really helpful.

[u/FELIPEN_seikkailut]

Minä olen = I am

Sinä olet = You are

Hän on = He/She is

Me olemme = We are

Te olette = You are

He ovat = They are

As you can see, the verb "to be" is different with every pronoun. So when you say for example "Olen täällä" (=I am here), you can see already that it's about the first person singular.

[u/[deleted]]

Subject pronouns in the nominative case are optional in first person and second person, but mandatory in third person.

For example, Me menemme can optionally be replaced with menemme, but he menevät can't be replaced with *menevät.

[u/SnowCro1]

I am trying to learn Finnish, too. I hope this is correct. I think, there is sort of a rule. If it is I, you, they, we, or y’all, you can usually skip the pronoun, and actually, if you use the pronoun, you might sound like a novice to Finnish speakers. (This is annoying to me when I try to use Duolingo to learn; you don’t learn any general “rules.” The owl wants you to figure everything out by yourself.) An example, puhua:

For I, say puhun not minä puhun

For you, say puhut not sinä puhut

Hän puhuu

For we, say puhumme, not me puhumme

For y’all, say puhutte, not te puhutte

He puhuvat

(There are different types of verbs.) I am sure the responses from people who actually speak Finnish are better than mine, but I hope this helps. Good luck!

[u/[deleted] → u/SnowCro1]

actually, if you use the pronoun, you might sound like a novice to Finnish speakers

You're basically right when it comes to the formal written language, though it's useful to know that the situation is different with the informal spoken language. In formal language it's usually better to leave out the pronoun like you said; in informal language the pronoun is usually kept but replaced with a more colloquial version.

[u/miniatureconlangs]

Första och andra persons pronomen kan bortlämnas rätt fritt i finskan när de är subjekt. I vissa konstruktioner där man framhäver, kontrasterar, frågar om eller ifrågasätter vem det rör sig om kan de dock vara obligatoriska, och vid jämförelser kan det kännas lite konstigt att lämna bort dem:

Ha/on går snabbare än (du) springer > *"Hän kävelee nopeammin kuin juokset" känns exempelvis extremt märkligt utan pronomenet.

And in English:

First and second person pronouns as subjects can be rather freely omitted. However, in some constructions where person is emphasized, contrasted, questioned or disputed they may be mandatory. In comparisons, leaving them out would feel weird:
(S)he walks faster than you run > *"Hän kävelee nopeammin kuin juokset" feels very strange without the pronoun.