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Questions & Answers about Puhuisin mielelläni podcastista.
Why is the word for podcast in the elative case (podcastista)?
Because the verb puhua (to talk/speak) requires the elative case (-sta or -stä) when you are talking about a topic. This is a very common pattern in Finnish: verbs related to speaking, thinking, or knowing generally govern the elative case to express the idea of 'about'.
Where does the 'would' come from in puhuisin?
The -isi- in the middle of the verb is the marker for the conditional mood, which usually translates to 'would' in English. It is attached to the verb stem, followed by the personal ending -n for 'I' (puhua -> puhu- -> puhuisin).
What is the literal meaning of mielelläni, and how is it built?
It translates literally as 'with my mind.' It is built from the word mieli (mind), the adessive case ending -llä (on/with), and the possessive suffix -ni (my). Using a verb alongside mielelläni is the standard Finnish way to say you 'gladly' do something or that you 'like to' do it.
Since 'podcast' is an English loanword, how does vowel harmony work when adding the ending?
Even unassimilated foreign loanwords follow Finnish vowel harmony rules based on their spelling or pronunciation. Because 'podcast' contains the back vowels 'o' and 'a', it takes the back-vowel elative ending -sta rather than the front-vowel ending -stä.