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Questions & Answers about Minä olen terve.
What does minä mean, and can it be omitted here?
minä is the first-person singular pronoun I. Finnish is a pro-drop language, so the verb ending in olen already shows that the subject is I. You can say Olen terve without minä, and it still means I am healthy. Use minä only for emphasis or clarity.
How is olen formed from the verb olla?
olla is “to be.” In the present tense, you take the root ole- and add the personal ending. For first-person singular you add -n, giving olen (“I am”). The pattern is: ole- + n → olen (I am) ole- + t → olet (you are) ole- (no ending) → on (he/she/it is)
Why is terve not inflected in this sentence?
As a predicative adjective with a nominative singular subject, terve stays in its basic form. Predicative adjectives agree in case and number: since minä is nominative singular, the adjective remains terve. In the plural you’d say Olemme terveitä (“We are healthy”).
How do you pronounce Minä olen terve, and where does the stress go?
Finnish always stresses the first syllable of each word. Pronounce it: MIN-ä (MEE-nä), O-len (OH-len), TER-ve (TER-veh). Vowels are pure: a as in father, ä as in cat.
Is the word order fixed as Subject-Verb-Predicate in Finnish?
The neutral order is indeed Subject-Verb-Predicate, so Minä olen terve is the unmarked form. Finnish word order is flexible, though. Olen terve or Terve olen minä are also grammatical; you’d shift order to put emphasis on a particular word.
How would I use this sentence to answer “Miten voit”?
Miten voit means “How are you.” A natural reply is Olen terve or (Minä) olen terve. You can also respond with single words like Hyvin (“Well”) or Kaikki hyvin (“Everything’s fine”), but Olen terve specifically says “I am healthy.”
Can terve also be used as a greeting?
Yes. As a casual hello, people sometimes say Terve by itself. In that context terve comes from tervehdys (“greeting”). In Minä olen terve, however, it’s clearly the adjective healthy.
Are there any tips for using adjectives after verbs in Finnish?
When an adjective follows a linking verb like olla, it becomes predicative and takes the same case as the subject (nominative here). Outside of that, attributive adjectives (those before nouns) agree in case, number and sometimes in form (e.g. terve talo “healthy house,” but in partitive terveä taloa). For verbs like olla, just match the subject’s case.