Breakdown of Hän luki sekä viestin että kirjeen avoimin mielin.
hän
he / she
lukea
to read
viesti
message
kirje
letter
Questions & Answers about Hän luki sekä viestin että kirjeen avoimin mielin.
Why does the Finnish sentence use the plural form avoimin mielin when the English translation says 'with an open mind' (singular)?
This uses the instructive case (-in), which is the focus of this lesson! The instructive case describes how an action is done or by what means. It is almost always used in the plural in Finnish, even when translated as a singular concept in English. Avoimin mielin is a very common fixed phrase.
How is the form avoimin built from the dictionary word avoin (open)?
The instructive case ending (-n) always attaches to the plural stem of a word. For avoin, the plural stem is avoimi- (just like in the basic plural avoimet). Adding -n to that stem gives you avoimin.
Why do both viestin and kirjeen end in -n?
They are the direct objects of the verb luki (read). Because she read the entire message and the entire letter, the action is complete. Therefore, they take the total object form, which looks exactly like the genitive case (ending in -n) for singular nouns.
I know että usually means 'that'. Why is it used here instead of ja (and)?
Here it is part of the fixed paired conjunction sekä ... että, which translates to 'both ... and'. In this specific pair, että loses its usual meaning of 'that' and steps in to act as the connecting 'and'.