Questions & Answers about Selvä! Sinä olet opiskelija.
Why does selvä mean "okay" here?
The word selvä literally means "clear". In everyday Finnish, it is very commonly used as an exclamation to mean "Okay!", "Alright!", or "Understood!".
Do I always need to use the pronoun sinä (you), or can I just say olet opiskelija?
You can just say olet opiskelija. Because the verb form olet already tells us who is doing the action (you), dropping the pronoun sinä is very common. Keeping it just adds a little bit of emphasis.
Why isn't there a word for "a" before opiskelija?
Finnish does not have articles like "a", "an", or "the". The word opiskelija simply means "a student" or "the student" depending on the context.
Does the ending of opiskelija mean anything special?
Yes! The -ja (or -jä) ending is often added to a verb stem to describe the person doing the action, similar to the "-er" ending in English. Here, it comes from the verb opiskella (to study), making opiskelija a person who studies.