Breakdown of Toisin sanoen olemme samaa mieltä.
olla
to be
samaa mieltä
in agreement, of the same opinion
toisin sanoen
in other words
Questions & Answers about Toisin sanoen olemme samaa mieltä.
What grammatical form is sanoen and how does it work here?
It is the E-infinitive (also known as the second infinitive) of the verb sanoa (to say), conjugated in the instructive case. This form typically expresses the manner in which an action is performed, translating closely to "saying" or "by saying".
What is the literal translation of the phrase toisin sanoen?
The word toisin is an adverb meaning "differently" or "otherwise". When combined with sanoen, the phrase literally means "by saying differently". This is the standard Finnish equivalent of the English idiom "in other words".
English uses the verb "agree", so why does Finnish use the verb olla (to be) here?
Finnish lacks a single, direct verb for "to agree" when sharing an opinion. Instead, it uses the fixed phrase olla samaa mieltä, which literally means "to be of the same mind". Therefore, the verb you conjugate is olla, becoming olemme (we are).
Why is samaa mieltä in the partitive case?
In Finnish, expressing that someone possesses an abstract quality, state, or opinion often requires the partitive case. Because "mind" or "opinion" (mieli) is treated as an abstract, uncountable concept in this phrase, both it and its modifier (sama) must take the partitive ending.
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