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Questions & Answers about Minä opiskelen suomea edelleen.
Why is suomea in the partitive case instead of suomi?
In Finnish, many verbs that describe ongoing, incomplete or unbounded actions take a partitive object. Opiskella (“to study”) is one of them, so the object suomi changes to its partitive form suomea to show that you’re studying the language but haven’t “completed” it.
What does edelleen mean, and can I use vielä instead?
Edelleen is an adverb meaning still or continuously. You can often replace it with vielä, which also means still or yet, though edelleen slightly emphasizes continuation from a previous state. Both are grammatically correct:
- Minä opiskelen suomea edelleen.
- Minä opiskelen suomea vielä.
Do I have to include Minä at the beginning?
No. Finnish is a pro-drop language: the verb ending -n already tells you it’s first-person singular. In everyday speech you’d normally omit the pronoun:
- Opiskelen suomea edelleen.
Including Minä is not wrong, but it adds emphasis to the subject (“I, specifically, am still studying Finnish”).
Can I change the word order of Minä opiskelen suomea edelleen?
Yes. Finnish allows flexible word order for emphasis or style. Some options:
- Minä opiskelen edelleen suomea. (focus on still)
- Edelleen opiskelen suomea. (emphasis on continuity)
- Opiskelen suomea edelleen. (most neutral in spoken Finnish)
The core meaning stays the same, but what you put first sounds more prominent.
What is the difference between opiskelen and opin?
- opiskelen is 1st-person singular present of opiskella, “to study” (the process of going through courses, reading, practicing).
- opin is 1st-person singular present of oppia, “to learn” (to acquire a fact or skill). Use opiskelen when you talk about taking lessons or studying actively. Use opin when you’ve actually learned or mastered something.
Why aren’t there any articles like the or a in this sentence?
Finnish has no articles equivalent to English a/an/the. Nouns stand alone without them. So you simply say suomea for “Finnish” without any extra word for “the” or “a.”
Could I say opiskelen suomeksi edelleen instead?
No, because suomeksi is the instructive/essive form used when the language is the medium of an action (e.g., kirjoitan suomeksi – “I write in Finnish”). When the language itself is the object you’re studying, you need the partitive suomea: opiskelen suomea edelleen.
Is edelleen interchangeable with yhä, and if so, is there any nuance?
Yes, yhä also means still and is very common in spoken Finnish. Nuance:
- edelleen often feels slightly more formal and stresses continuation from a specific starting point.
- yhä is somewhat more neutral or colloquial. Examples:
- Opiskelen suomea edelleen.
- Opiskelen suomea yhä. Both are correct and understood the same way.