Breakdown of Minä en ole varma.
olla
to be
minä
I
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
varma
sure / certain
Questions & Answers about Minä en ole varma.
Why does 'am not' require two words, en ole?
In Finnish, 'not' is a verb that changes depending on who is doing the action. For 'I', the negative verb is en. The second word, ole, is the special form of the verb olla (to be) that is always used after negative verbs. Together, en ole means 'I am not'.
Is ole only used with en?
No, ole is the standard negative form for all persons in the present tense! Whether you say en ole (I am not), et ole (you are not), or ei ole (he/she is not), the word ole stays exactly the same. Only the negative verb changes.
Can I drop Minä and just say En ole varma?
Yes, you can! Because the negative verb en is already specific to 'I', the word Minä is totally optional. Saying just En ole varma is very common and natural in everyday speech.
If I wanted to say 'we are not sure', would the word varma stay the same?
No, it would change. In Finnish, adjectives have to match the subject. Because 'we' is plural, the adjective would also need to be plural. But since Minä is singular, varma is used in its basic singular form here.