Breakdown of Some on joskus hauska, mutta jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää.
Questions & Answers about Some on joskus hauska, mutta jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää.
Here Some is Finnish slang for social media, from sosiaalinen media → SoMe / some.
It does not mean English some (like some people). It is a noun meaning something like social media / social networks in general, not a quantity word. In more formal Finnish you might see sosiaalinen media instead of Some.
In Finnish, Some is treated as a singular noun, like Facebook or televisio.
- Some on joskus hauska = Social media is sometimes fun.
- on is the 3rd person singular of olla (to be).
We only use ovat when the subject is plural, for example:
- Sosiaalisen median palvelut ovat suosittuja.
Social media services are popular.
Here the subject is Some (one thing), so on is correct.
Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:
Some on joskus hauska.
Literally: Social media is sometimes a fun (thing).
– hauska is nominative, treating Some as a concrete noun that has the property fun.
– This can sound a bit more like you’re judging it as a type: “Social media is a fun thing (sometimes).”Some on joskus hauskaa.
Literally: Being on social media is sometimes fun.
– hauskaa is partitive, often used as a neuter-like, abstract predicative: “it is fun” in general.
– This sounds more like talking about the experience, not so much about “social media as a thing”.
Many native speakers would actually prefer Some on joskus hauskaa in casual speech, but hauska isn’t wrong; it just has a slightly different nuance.
Breakdown:
jatkuva = continuous / constant / ongoing (adjective)
– from the verb jatkua (to continue).viestiminen = communicating / messaging (a noun formed from a verb)
– from the verb viestiä (to message, to communicate).
– the ending -minen turns a verb into a noun that means the activity of doing it, like English -ing in communicating, reading, swimming.
So jatkuva viestiminen literally means constant communicating / constant messaging. It is the subject of the second clause:
- jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää
= constant messaging can also be annoying.
Here viestiminen is a noun, not a finite verb.
Details:
It comes from the verb viestiä, but -minen turns it into a verbal noun:
- viestiä (to communicate) → viestiminen (communicating, the act of communicating).
Grammatically it behaves just like any other noun:
- It is in the nominative singular as the subject.
- It can take an adjective jatkuva in front of it.
- It can be declined in cases:
- viestiminen, viestimistä, viestimisestä, etc.
So the core structure is:
- [jatkuva viestiminen] (subject) voi olla (verb) myös ärsyttävää (predicative).
They would all mean something related but with different nuances:
viestiminen
– activity noun: the act of communicating / messaging (process, ongoing activity).
– fits well with jatkuva: constant communicating.viestintä
– more like communication in a general or institutional sense (media and communications, corporate communication).
– jatkuva viestintä voi olla myös ärsyttävää would be understood, but it sounds a bit more abstract/formal.viestit
– messages (plural noun).
– If you said something like jatkuvat viestit voivat olla ärsyttäviä, that would be constant messages can be annoying, focusing on the messages themselves, not the act of messaging.
In this sentence the focus is on the ongoing behaviour of constantly messaging, so jatkuva viestiminen is a natural choice.
voi olla literally means can be or may be.
- voi is 3rd person singular of voida (can, may, to be able to).
- olla is the infinitive form of to be.
This structure is like English can + verb:
- hän voi tulla = he/she can come
- se voi olla totta = it can be true
- jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää = constant messaging can also be annoying.
Tense: present.
Mood: indicative, with a modal verb (voida) expressing possibility.
ärsyttävää is the partitive singular of the adjective ärsyttävä (annoying).
In Finnish, the predicative (the word after olla) can be in either nominative or partitive, and the choice gives nuances.
Here ärsyttävää suggests:
- The “annoyingness” is partial, indefinite, or degree-like, not an absolute classification.
- It feels similar to English “can be annoying” or “somewhat / at times annoying”, rather than “is an annoying thing”.
Compare:
- Jatkuva viestiminen on ärsyttävää.
Constant messaging is (the kind of thing that is) annoying / is annoying (in general). - Jatkuva viestiminen on ärsyttävä tapa.
Constant messaging is an annoying habit.
– now ärsyttävä is attributive to tapa (habit), so nominative singular.
With voi olla, the partitive ärsyttävää is very natural because we’re talking about a possible, not absolute characteristic.
Yes, that word order is also correct:
- jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää
- jatkuva viestiminen voi myös olla ärsyttävää
Both mean essentially “constant messaging can also be annoying”.
Nuance:
voi olla myös ärsyttävää
– myös is closer to ärsyttävää
– slightly more emphasis on “annoying as well (in addition to being fun / whatever)”.voi myös olla ärsyttävää
– myös is closer to voi
– slightly more emphasis on the possibility: “can also be (annoying)”.
In everyday speech, Finns move myös around quite freely; both positions are natural here.
Both mutta and vaan translate to but, but they are used in different situations:
- mutta = but, however
– used for a general contrast, like English but. - vaan = but rather, but instead
– used after a negative to correct or replace something.
Examples:
- En halua teetä, vaan kahvia.
I don’t want tea, but (rather) coffee. - Some on joskus hauska, mutta jatkuva viestiminen voi olla myös ärsyttävää.
Social media is sometimes fun, but constant messaging can also be annoying.
There is no negation (no ei) in the first clause, so vaan would be wrong here; mutta is the correct conjunction.
viestiminen is in the nominative singular.
We know it is the subject because:
- It is in basic form (no case ending other than the -nen type), and
- It appears before the verb voi olla, and
- The whole phrase jatkuva viestiminen is a logical “doer / experiencer” in the sentence.
Structure:
- jatkuva viestiminen (subject, nominative)
- voi olla (verb phrase)
- myös ärsyttävää (predicative in partitive).
If we changed the case, the subject role would disappear, for example:
- jatkuvaa viestimistä voi olla vaikea välttää.
Here jatkuvaa viestimistä is in the partitive and is no longer the plain subject; the structure and meaning change.