Learn Hardcore Finnish: En ole vielä varma vastauksesta, joten luen kysymyksen uudestaan. - I am not sure about the answer yet, so I read the question again.

En ole = I am not (1st person singular is clear from en and ole).
Minä en ole is also correct, but it adds emphasis to I. It can sound like “I am not (but someone else might be)” or just slightly more stressed.

In neutral, everyday speech, En ole vielä varma... is more natural than Minä en ole vielä varma... unless you really want to stress the subject.

What exactly does vielä mean here, and why is it placed before varma? Could it go somewhere else?

Vielä generally means yet or still.
In En ole vielä varma, it closely matches English “I’m not sure yet.”

Word order options and nuances:

En ole vielä varma – default, neutral: I’m not yet sure.
En ole varma vielä – also possible, but vielä is a bit more detached; the rhythm is slightly different, often used in speech, still understood as “not sure yet”.
En ole varma vastauksesta vielä – emphasizes that the “yet” applies specifically to your certainty about the answer.

The most natural and clean version is the one in the sentence: En ole vielä varma...

Why is it varma vastauksesta and not something like varma vastausta or varma vastauksesta? What case is vastauksesta?

Vastauksesta is in the elative case (ending -sta / -stä), which often corresponds to English “from / about / of”.

The phrase olla varma jostakin (to be sure of something) always uses the elative case:

Olen varma vastauksesta. – I am sure of the answer.
En ole vielä varma vastauksesta. – I’m not yet sure of the answer.

Using vastausta (partitive) would be incorrect here; varma simply requires the elative: varma + elative (jostakin).

Could you break down vastauksesta morphologically?

Yes:

vastaus = answer (nominative singular)
vastaus + e → vastaukse- (the stem used before many case endings)
vastaukse + sta → vastauksesta

So vastauksesta = from the answer / of the answer (elative singular).

What does joten mean exactly, and is it the same as niin että or siksi?

Joten is a coordinating conjunction meaning “so, therefore”. It links two clauses where the second is a logical consequence of the first:

En ole vielä varma vastauksesta, joten luen kysymyksen uudestaan.
→ I’m not yet sure of the answer, so I’ll read the question again.

Close alternatives and differences:

siksi = for that reason, usually with a separate clause:
- En ole vielä varma vastauksesta. Siksi luen kysymyksen uudestaan.
niin että = usually “so that / in such a way that”, more about result/purpose, and less natural here.

In this sentence, joten is the smooth, natural choice.

Why is there a comma before joten? Is it mandatory?

Yes, it is standard Finnish punctuation to put a comma before joten when it joins two independent clauses.

Clause 1: En ole vielä varma vastauksesta
Clause 2: (minä) luen kysymyksen uudestaan

Both could stand alone as sentences, so a comma before joten is required.

Why is luen in the present tense even though the English translation often uses future (“I will read the question again”)?

Finnish normally uses the present tense in many situations where English uses the future. Context gives the future meaning.

Luen kysymyksen uudestaan.
→ literally: I read the question again,
→ but in this context: I’m going to read / I will read the question again.

If you really want to stress intention or planning, you could say aion lukea (I intend to read), but here luen is perfectly natural and already implies a near-future action.

Why is it kysymyksen and not just kysymys or kysymystä? What case is kysymyksen?

Kysymyksen is in the genitive singular, and here it functions as a total object of luen.

Finnish objects are a bit tricky, but simplified:

genitive / nominative object → the action affects the whole thing, a complete event (total object):
- Luen kysymyksen. – I read the whole question (once, completely).
partitive object (kysymystä) → incomplete, ongoing, or partial action:
- Luin kysymystä. – I was (in the process of) reading the question.

In luen kysymyksen uudestaan, the idea is that you will read the entire question again, so the genitive total object (kysymyksen) is used.

Could the word order be luen uudestaan kysymyksen or luen kysymyksen taas? Would it change the meaning?

Alternative word orders are possible:

Luen kysymyksen uudestaan. – very natural, neutral focus on reading the question again.
Luen uudestaan kysymyksen. – understandable, but less common; the usual pattern is verb + object + adverbial in neutral word order.
Luen kysymyksen taas. – grammatically fine, but taas often means again / once more, sometimes with a slight “once again (this keeps happening)” nuance. Uudestaan feels a bit more neutral and close to “again from the beginning”.

So the original word order is the most natural in standard, neutral Finnish.

What is the difference between uudestaan, uudelleen, and taas?

All three can often be translated as “again”, but there are nuances:

uudestaan – again, from the beginning / once more; very common in everyday speech.
uudelleen – also again; slightly more neutral or formal, common in both speech and writing.
taas – again / once again; also means “(once) again, as before, repeatedly”, and can sometimes carry a feeling of repetition or even mild annoyance depending on context.

In this sentence, uudestaan (or uudelleen) is ideal: luen kysymyksen uudestaan = I’ll read the question again (from the beginning).

Could I say En ole varma vastauksesta vielä, joten...? Would that still be correct?

Yes, En ole varma vastauksesta vielä is grammatically correct and understandable.

However, the most natural and typical placement in neutral Finnish is En ole vielä varma vastauksesta. Putting vielä earlier keeps it close to the verb phrase en ole, mirroring the English rhythm of “am not yet sure”.

Is En ole vielä varma vastauksesta, joten luen kysymyksen uudestaan more formal or informal?

This sentence is neutral in style. It works in both spoken and written Finnish, and it is neither particularly formal nor particularly colloquial.

In everyday speech you might also hear minor variations like:

En oo vielä varma vastauksesta, joten luen sen kysymyksen uudestaan.

Here en oo is colloquial for en ole, and sen kysymyksen adds a spoken-language pronoun, but the meaning and structure are the same.