Breakdown of Minä olen niin väsynyt, että haluan nukkua nyt.
minä
I
olla
to be
nyt
now
haluta
to want
väsynyt
tired
että
that
nukkua
to sleep
niin
so
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Questions & Answers about Minä olen niin väsynyt, että haluan nukkua nyt.
Do I need to say Minä, or can I drop it?
You can drop it. Finnish usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person. So: Olen niin väsynyt, että haluan nukkua nyt is the natural default. Using Minä adds emphasis or contrast (I, as opposed to someone else): Minä olen…
Why is there a comma before että?
Finnish requires a comma before a clause introduced by että. It’s mandatory in standard writing: … niin väsynyt, että … Leaving it out is considered incorrect in formal text (though casual messages often skip it).
How does the niin … että construction work?
It expresses a degree/result: niin + adjective/adverb + että + result clause, roughly “so … that …”
- Olen niin väsynyt, että haluan nukkua. (so tired that I want to sleep)
- Se on niin kallis, että en osta sitä. (so expensive that I won’t buy it)
Can I use jotta or joten instead of että here?
- että gives a result or introduces a “that”-clause. Correct here.
- jotta expresses purpose (“so that” with an intended goal): Puhun hiljaa, jotta et herää. Not appropriate in your sentence.
- joten is a coordinating “so/therefore”: Olen väsynyt, joten haluan nukkua nyt. This is fine, but it’s not the same structure as niin … että.
Why is haluan followed by nukkua and not a finite verb like nukun?
Verbs like haluta take the bare A-infinitive (1st infinitive): haluan nukkua. You can’t chain two finite verbs (haluan nukun). If the subject of the second verb were different, you’d use että + finite verb: Haluan, että hän nukkuu.
Is haluan mennä nukkumaan different from haluan nukkua?
Yes:
- haluan nukkua = I want to sleep (the act/state of sleeping).
- haluan mennä nukkumaan = I want to go to bed / go to sleep (the going-to-sleep action). Use whichever matches your meaning.
Where can I put nyt, and does the position change the meaning?
All are correct, with slight emphasis differences:
- Haluan nukkua nyt = I want to sleep now (focus on the time of sleeping).
- Haluan nyt nukkua = Right now, what I want is to sleep (focus on the wanting now).
- Nyt haluan nukkua = Now (as opposed to earlier), I want to sleep (topic shift).
Is väsynyt a participle? Why does it end in -nyt?
Yes. Väsynyt is the active past participle of the verb väsyä (“to become tired”), used adjectivally to mean “tired.” The -nyt here is a participle ending, not a perfect tense of olla; with olla it just functions as an adjective: Olen väsynyt.
What case is väsynyt in here?
Nominative singular. With olla (to be), predicative adjectives typically appear in the nominative: Olen väsynyt.
Could I say Minua väsyttää instead of Olen väsynyt?
Yes, but they nuance differently:
- Olen väsynyt = I am tired (a state).
- Minua väsyttää = I feel sleepy/tired (literally “it tires me,” partitive object: minua). You can combine: Minua väsyttää, joten haluan nukkua.
Can I just make two sentences instead of using että?
Yes: Olen niin väsynyt. Haluan nukkua nyt. Or: Olen väsynyt, joten haluan nukkua nyt. Using niin … että ties the degree directly to the result (“so … that …”), which is a bit tighter than two separate statements or joten.
What would a colloquial spoken version look like?
Common colloquial Helsinki-style: Mä oon niin väsynyt, et haluun nukkuu nyt. Notes:
- mä ~ minä, oon ~ olen, et ~ että.
- haluun ~ haluan.
- nukkuu is colloquial where standard would use the infinitive nukkua. Keep the standard forms in writing.
How do I pronounce the tricky sounds here?
- Stress is on the first syllable of each word: MI-nä, O-len, NIIN, VÄ-sy-nyt, ET-tä, HA-lu-an, NUK-ku-a, NYT.
- ä: a front “a,” like the a in “cat” (but pure).
- y: like French u in “tu” or German ü.
- Double consonants kk, tt are long: nukkua [ˈnukːuɑ], että [ˈetːɑ]. Length matters.
Why present tense for both olen and haluan? Isn’t this about the near future?
Finnish present covers present and near-future naturally. Haluan nukkua nyt is perfectly normal for “I want to sleep now/soon.” You’d only use the future periphrastically if you needed extra clarity (often unnecessary).
How do I negate the että-clause?
Use että + negative verb, often contracted:
- Olen niin väsynyt, että en jaksa puhua.
- Olen niin väsynyt, etten jaksa puhua. (että + en → etten) Both are correct; the contraction is common in writing.