Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo.

Using plain minä here would be ungrammatical, and minun (genitive) would suggest a possessive relationship, which is not what this verb needs. With tuntua, the experiencer is typically in the elative (minusta, sinusta, hänestä, etc.).

What case is minusta, and is this case always used for feelings like this?

Minusta is in the elative case (ending -sta/-stä), often meaning “from inside X”.

With certain verbs that express opinions, impressions, or feelings, Finnish uses the elative for the “experiencer”:

Minusta tuntuu, että… – I feel that…
Minusta vaikuttaa siltä, että… – It seems to me that…
Minusta tämä on hyvä idea. – I think this is a good idea.

So yes, elative + tuntua/vaikuttaa is a very common pattern. It’s roughly like saying “From my point of view, it feels that…”.

Why is it tuntuu (3rd person) and not something like tunnen (“I feel”)?

Finnish has two different verbs:

tuntea – to feel / to know (a person), used like tunnen hänet – I know him/her
tuntua – to feel / to seem, used impersonally or with things as subjects

In Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo, the verb is tuntua:

tuntuu is 3rd person singular, present of tuntua
The structure is more like English “It feels to me that…”, not “I feel (physically)”

So tuntuu matches an impersonal / “it” subject, and the real content of that “it” is in the että-clause:

Että tämä koe on helppo is what “feels” a certain way to you.

What exactly does että do here, and is the comma before it mandatory?

Että is a subordinating conjunction meaning “that” (in the sense of I think that…, I feel that…).

Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo.
→ To me it feels *that this exam is easy.*

In standard Finnish writing, a comma before että is required when it introduces a subordinate clause:

Minusta tuntuu, että…
Hän sanoi, että… – He/She said that…

Spoken language doesn’t “sound” the comma, of course, but in writing you should always put it there.

What is the grammatical subject of tuntuu in this sentence?

The grammatical subject of tuntuu is the että-clause:

(Että tämä koe on helppo) = that this exam is easy

So structurally, it’s a bit like:

To me feels [that this exam is easy].

This is why tuntuu is 3rd person singular: the “thing” that feels a certain way is this whole idea/proposition, treated grammatically as a singular entity.

Could I also say Minusta tämä koe on helppo? What’s the difference in meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Minusta tämä koe on helppo.

This means essentially “I think this exam is easy.”

The difference in nuance:

Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo.
- Slightly softer, more about your impression/feeling
- Comparable to “I feel / I get the impression that this exam is easy.”
Minusta tämä koe on helppo.
- More direct opinion: “In my opinion, this exam is easy.”

Both are natural and common; the tuntuu, että version leans more toward subjective feeling or tentative judgment.

Why is it tämä and not tämän in tämä koe?

Tämä is the nominative singular form of the demonstrative pronoun “this”.

In tämä koe:

tämä = subject, nominative
koe = noun in apposition, also nominative

Together they form the subject tämä koe = this exam.

Tämän is the genitive form (“of this”), used when it’s a possessive or otherwise governed by another word, e.g.:

tämän kokeen tehtävät – the tasks of this exam

But here, we just need the basic “this (exam)” as a subject, so tämä is correct.

Why koe and not koetta? When would I use the partitive here?

In tämä koe on helppo, koe is the subject in nominative singular, so koe is the correct form.

You’d use koetta (partitive) if the structure required it, for example:

With some verbs that take partitive objects
To indicate an ongoing or incomplete action or some kind of “partialness”

But in a simple X on Y sentence (subject + verb “to be” + adjective), with a countable subject, the subject is nominative:

Tämä koe on helppo. – This exam is easy.

The partitive form koetta could appear in other contexts, e.g.:

Teemme koetta. – We are doing a (the) experiment/test (ongoing).

Not in this basic predicate sentence.

Why is it helppo and not helppoa, helpolla, or helpolta?

In the että-clause we have a simple copula phrase:

tämä koe on helppo = this exam is easy

In such “X on Y-adjective” sentences, the adjective usually agrees with the subject in the nominative:

Koe on helppo.
Kokeet ovat helppoja.

So helppo is nominative singular, matching koe.

Other forms:

helppoa (partitive) can appear in different nuances, often with abstract/mass subjects:
- Oppiminen on helppoa. – Learning is easy. (more like “the activity of learning is easy”)
helpolta would be the typical form after tuntua in a different construction:
- Tämä koe tuntuu helpolta. – This exam feels easy.
helpolla means something like “with ease/cheaply” in different idioms, not relevant here.

Our sentence avoids the tuntua + -lta pattern by putting the adjective in its own on + adjective clause.

But isn’t tuntua usually followed by an adjective in -lta (like hyvältä)? Why don’t we have that here?

Yes, there is a very common pattern:

Se tuntuu hyvältä. – It feels good.
Tämä koe tuntuu helpolta. – This exam feels easy.

Here, tuntua takes a complement in the -lta/-ltä form (often analysed as an ablative-like case).

In Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo, the structure is different:

tuntuu is followed by an että-clause, not directly by an adjective.
The että-clause has its own verb on and its own adjective helppo in the usual copula + adjective pattern.

So tuntua has two common patterns:

tuntua + -lta/-ltä adjective
- Tämä koe tuntuu helpolta.
tuntua, että + clause
- Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo.

Both are correct but structurally different.

Can I change the word order, like Tämä koe on helppo, minusta tuntuu?

You can move things around in Finnish for emphasis, though some orders become more marked or stylistic.

Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – neutral, very natural.
Tämä koe on helppo, minusta tuntuu. – Possible, but sounds more like adding your opinion as an afterthought:
- This exam is easy, I feel. (rhetorical, maybe slightly literary/expressive)

You wouldn’t usually split minusta tuntuu itself; it’s a fairly fixed chunk when used in this “I feel that…” sense. The default, everyday choice is the original order.

What’s the difference between Minusta tuntuu, että… and Minun mielestäni…?

They are very close in meaning and interchangeable in many contexts.

Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo.
- Literally: It feels to me that this exam is easy.
- Slightly more about subjective feeling or impression.
Minun mielestäni tämä koe on helppo.
- Literally: In my opinion, this exam is easy.
- More explicitly an “opinion phrase”.

In everyday speech, people also use the shorter colloquial forms:

Must tuntuu, et… (for Minusta tuntuu, että…)
Mun mielestä tää koe on helppo. (for Minun mielestäni tämä koe on helppo.)

In standard language, both longer forms are fine; the nuance difference is small.

How would this sentence change for different persons (you, he, we, etc.)?

The minusta part changes according to the person, but tuntuu usually stays 3rd person singular in this pattern:

Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – I feel that…
Sinusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – You feel that…
Hänestä tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – He/She feels that…
Meistä tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – We feel that…
Teistä tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – You (pl.) feel that…
Heistä tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo. – They feel that…

The pattern is always: [person in elative] + tuntuu, että + [clause].

Does this sentence mean more “I feel” or “I think”? Which English translation is better?

Context decides, but both “I feel that this exam is easy” and “I think this exam is easy” are natural translations.

If you want to keep the nuance of a personal impression, “I feel that…” works.
In everyday conversation, English speakers often just say “I think this exam is easy.”, and Minusta tuntuu, että tämä koe on helppo can cover that meaning too.

So you can safely understand it as expressing your subjective opinion or impression.