Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

I am a bit unsure, but I still want to try.

Breakdown of Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

• minä: I
• olla: to be
• mutta: but
• haluta: to want
• yrittää: to try
• silti: still
• hieman: a bit
• epävarma: unsure

Questions & Answers about Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

Why is it Olen and not Minä olen? When can you drop the pronoun in Finnish?

Finnish is a pro-drop language: the verb ending already shows who the subject is, so the personal pronoun is usually optional.

• Olen hieman epävarma. = I am a bit unsure.
• Minä olen hieman epävarma. = I am a bit unsure (as opposed to someone else).

You normally omit minä unless you want to:

• add emphasis or contrast: Minä olen epävarma, mutta sinä et.
• clarify the subject in a longer or more complex sentence.

So Olen hieman epävarma is the most natural neutral form in written Finnish.

What is the difference between hieman and vähän? Could I say Olen vähän epävarma instead?

Both hieman and vähän mean roughly “a bit / a little / somewhat”.

• hieman: slightly more neutral or formal, common in writing.
• vähän: extremely common in everyday speech, slightly more colloquial.

All of these are possible and natural:

• Olen hieman epävarma.
• Olen vähän epävarma.
• Olen hiukan epävarma.

The meaning is essentially the same; you just adjust the register. In spoken language you’ll probably hear vähän more often.

What does epävarma literally mean, and what does the prefix epä- do?

The base adjective is varma = certain, sure.
The prefix epä- often works like English un- / in- / im-, making a sort of opposite:

• varma → epävarma (certain → uncertain, unsure)
• kohtelias (polite) → epäkohtelias (impolite)
• reilu (fair) → epäreilu (unfair)

So epävarma is built from:

• epä- (negative prefix) + varma (sure) → unsure / uncertain.

Note: epä- is quite common, but you can’t just stick it in front of any adjective and expect it to work; some combinations are not idiomatic and must be learned case by case.

Why does hieman come before epävarma in Olen hieman epävarma?

hieman is an adverb that modifies the adjective epävarma. The usual order in Finnish is:

verb + adverb (degree) + adjective (predicate)
Olen hieman epävarma. – I am a bit unsure.

Putting the adverb before the adjective is the default, neutral pattern.

A version like Olen epävarma hieman is grammatically possible but sounds odd or poetic in ordinary speech; it would strongly emphasize that the uncertainty is only small, and is not typical in everyday language.

Why is mutta used here and not vaan, since both mean “but”?

Finnish has two common words that translate as “but”:

• mutta – general contrast, like English but.
• vaan – used after a negation to correct or replace something, like but rather / but instead.

Examples:

• En ole väsynyt, vaan pirteä.
  I’m not tired, but (rather) energetic.

In your sentence there is no negation in the first clause:

• Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

So only mutta is correct here. Using vaan would sound wrong in standard Finnish.

Why is there a comma before mutta in Finnish, just like in English?

In Finnish punctuation, you normally put a comma between two independent clauses joined by a conjunction such as mutta.

Here you have two full clauses:

1. Olen hieman epävarma. – subject and verb.
2. (Minä) haluan silti yrittää. – subject and verb (subject is in the verb ending).

Joined:

• Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

Because both sides are full clauses, the comma is required in standard written Finnish, much like in English: I’m a bit unsure, but I still want to try.

What nuance does silti add? Could I just say mutta haluan yrittää?

silti means “still, nevertheless, even so”.

• mutta haluan yrittää = but I want to try – a simple contrast.
• mutta haluan silti yrittää = but I still / nevertheless want to try – it emphasizes that you want to try in spite of the thing just mentioned (being unsure).

So silti strengthens the concessive feeling: “Although I’m unsure, that doesn’t stop me.”

You can omit silti and the sentence remains grammatical and natural; it just becomes slightly less emphatically “in spite of that”.

Can I move silti around in the second clause? For example Silti haluan yrittää or Haluan yrittää silti?

Yes, you can move silti, and the nuance changes slightly:

• Haluan silti yrittää.
  Neutral word order; silti focuses on the action trying that still happens.

• Silti haluan yrittää.
  Sounds like English “Still, I want to try.”
  Putting silti first gives it extra emphasis and a more discourse-like feel, as if you’re summing up or insisting.

• Haluan yrittää silti.
  Also possible, more common in speech or as a kind of afterthought:
  “I want to try, still.”
  It can emphasize that trying is what you’re going to do anyway.

All three are grammatical; Haluan silti yrittää is the most straightforward and neutral.

Why is yrittää in this basic form? Why not conjugated, like yritän?

yrittää here is the first infinitive, the basic dictionary form of the verb (to try).

In Finnish, when you use a verb like haluta (to want), it is typically followed by another verb in the infinitive, just like English “want to do”:

• Haluan yrittää. – I want to try.
• Haluan oppia. – I want to learn.
• Haluan nukkua. – I want to sleep.

You cannot say *haluan yritän. That would be like saying “I want I try”.

So the pattern is:

haluan + yrittää
(conjugated modal-like verb) + (infinitive of main action)

What grammatical forms are used in this sentence (person, tense, case)?

Breakdown:

• Olen

  • verb olla (to be), 1st person singular, present tense → I am.

• hieman

  • adverb of degree (a bit, somewhat), not inflected here.

• epävarma

  • adjective in nominative singular, used as a predicative (“I am unsure”).

• mutta

  • coordinating conjunction (but).

• haluan

  • verb haluta (to want), 1st person singular, present tense → I want.

• silti

  • adverb (still, nevertheless).

• yrittää

  • verb yrittää (to try), first infinitive (basic “to try” form) governed by haluan.

There are no case endings visible here because there are no nouns. The only inflection is in the verbs (person and tense) and in the adjective agreeing in nominative form with the understood subject “I”.

How would this sentence sound in everyday spoken Finnish?

In casual spoken Finnish, many words are shortened. A common spoken version might be:

• Mä oon vähän epävarma, mut haluun silti yrittää.

Changes:

• Minä → mä
• olen → oon
• hieman → more likely vähän in speech
• mutta → mut
• haluan → haluun

This is very natural in informal conversation. In writing (especially formal or neutral), you stick to the original Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

Is there any difference between saying Olen epävarma and En ole varma?

Both can translate as “I’m not sure”, but the nuance is slightly different:

• En ole varma. – literally I am not sure.
  Neutral statement of not being certain about something specific.

• Olen epävarma. – literally I am unsure / I am uncertain.
  Sounds a bit more like a description of your state or feeling of insecurity, not just the lack of certainty.

In this sentence:

• Olen hieman epävarma, mutta haluan silti yrittää.

you’re talking about your general feeling of insecurity, so epävarma fits very well.

Is there anything tricky about pronouncing epävarma and yrittää for an English speaker?

A few key points:

1. Stress:
   In Finnish, stress is always on the first syllable:

   • Epävarma
   • Yrittää

2. Vowels:

   • y is like the French u in tu, or German ü – a front rounded vowel.
   • ä is like the a in English “cat”, just a bit cleaner and more front.

3. Length:
   Length is phonemic; long sounds are held about twice as long:

   • yrittää has long ää at the end: yrittää [ˈyritːæː].
   • The double tt means a long consonant; you briefly “hold” the closure: yrit-tää.

So:

• epävarma ≈ EH-pah-var-ma (with Finnish vowels).
• yrittää ≈ YRIHT-tää (with a tight rounded y and long tt
  • ää).