Vauva oppii kävelemään.

to walk

Breakdown of Vauva oppii kävelemään.

• oppia: to learn
• vauva: the baby

Questions & Answers about Vauva oppii kävelemään.

Why is oppii in that form?

Oppii is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb oppia (to learn).

Because the subject vauva (baby) is singular, the verb is also singular:

• minä opin = I learn
• sinä opit = you learn
• hän/se oppii = he/she/it learns

So Vauva oppii means The baby learns / is learning.

Why is it kävelemään instead of the basic verb kävellä?

After oppia, Finnish usually uses the third infinitive illative form to express learning to do something.

So:

• oppia kävelemään = to learn to walk
• oppia lukemaan = to learn to read
• oppia puhumaan = to learn to speak

This is the normal Finnish pattern. English uses to walk, but Finnish uses this special infinitive form instead.

What exactly is kävelemään grammatically?