Learn Hardcore Finnish: Haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni selvästi.

Haluan ends in -n, which marks 1st person singular → “I want”.
So minä (I) is understood and normally omitted:
Haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni selvästi. = Minä haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni selvästi.

You only add minä for emphasis, e.g. Minä haluan... = I (as opposed to someone else) want…

What form is haluan and what is its dictionary form?

Haluan is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb haluta.

Dictionary form (the infinitive): haluta = to want
Conjugation (present tense):
- minä haluan – I want
- sinä haluat – you (sg) want
- hän haluaa – he/she wants
- me haluamme – we want
- te haluatte – you (pl) want
- he haluavat – they want

So haluan literally means “I want”.

Why do we use ilmaista and not ilmaisen?

Because haluan is followed by another verb in the infinitive form, just like English “want to do”.

ilmaista is the infinitive: ilmaista = to express
ilmaisen would be “I express” (1st person singular present), which would clash with haluan:
- Haluan ilmaista… = I want to express… ✅
- Haluan ilmaisen… = ungrammatical ❌

So the pattern is:

Haluan + [infinitive]
- Haluan ilmaista… – I want to express…
- Haluan syödä… – I want to eat…
- Haluan oppia… – I want to learn…

What exactly does ilmaista mean and how is it conjugated?

Ilmaista means “to express”, usually in the sense of expressing an opinion, feelings, or ideas.

Basic present-tense conjugation:

minä ilmaisen – I express
sinä ilmaiset – you express
hän ilmaisee – he/she expresses
me ilmaisemme – we express
te ilmaisette – you (pl) express
he ilmaisevat – they express

In the sentence, it appears in its infinitive form ilmaista after haluan.

How is mielipiteeni built, and why does it mean “my opinion”?

Mielipiteeni is made of three parts:

mielipide – the basic noun: “opinion”
mielipitee- / mielipiteen- – the stem/genitive form (the d changes to t: pide → piteen)
The possessive suffix -ni – meaning “my”

So structurally:

mielipide → stem mielipitee- / mielipiteen-
mielipiteen
- -ni → mielipiteeni = “my opinion”

The possessive suffix -ni attaches directly to the noun and encodes the possessor I / my.

Why is it mielipiteeni and not just mielipide for “my opinion”?

In Finnish, possession is normally marked on the noun itself with a possessive suffix:

mielipide – (an) opinion
mielipide
- -ni → mielipiteeni – my opinion

So you usually need some marker of possession if you mean “my opinion”:

mielipide = opinion (no possessor indicated)
mielipiteeni = my opinion
mielipiteesi = your (sg) opinion
mielipiteemme = our opinion, etc.

You can add a separate pronoun for emphasis:

(Minun) mielipiteeni – my opinion (as opposed to someone else’s)

But mielipide alone does not mean my opinion.

Why does the word change from mielipide to mielipitee- / mielipiteen- before adding -ni?

This is a combination of:

Stem formation and
Consonant gradation.

Base form: mielipide
Genitive stem: mielipiteen-

The d in -pide weakens/changes: pide → pite
The genitive singular form is mielipiteen
Then the possessive suffix -ni is added:
- mielipiteen
  - ni → mielipiteeni

You don’t see the n anymore, but grammatically mielipiteeni is genitive + possessive suffix and functions as the object (like an accusative object) of ilmaista.

Why is the object mielipiteeni in this (genitive/accusative) form and not in the plain nominative?

Finnish objects often appear in what’s called the “accusative”, which for singular nouns usually looks like the genitive.

Plain nominative: mielipide – opinion
Genitive form: mielipiteen
With possessive suffix: mielipiteeni

In Haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni, the action is:

Directed at a whole, specific object (my whole opinion, not just part of it)
Semantically “complete”

So Finnish uses a total object, which here is realized in the genitive/accusative form mielipiteeni.

If you wanted to emphasize only partly expressing your opinion, you could use the partitive:

Haluan ilmaista mielipidettäni.
→ I want to express (some of) my opinion / to some extent.

What form is selvästi, and how is it related to selvä?

Selvästi is an adverb meaning “clearly”.
It is formed from the adjective selvä (clear) by adding -sti:

selvä – clear
selvästi – clearly

This -sti ending is a regular way to form adverbs from adjectives:

nopea → nopeasti – fast → quickly
hidas → hitaasti – slow → slowly
tarkka → tarkasti – precise → precisely

So selvästi tells you how the opinion is expressed.

Can I change the word order, for example to “Haluan selvästi ilmaista mielipiteeni” or “Selvästi haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni”?

You can change the word order, but the meaning and emphasis change.

Haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni selvästi.
- Default, neutral: I want to express my opinion clearly.
- selvästi clearly modifies ilmaista (the manner of expressing).
Haluan selvästi ilmaista mielipiteeni.
- More likely interpreted as: It’s clear that I want to express my opinion.
- Here selvästi can be read as modifying haluan (“clearly I want…”).
Selvästi haluan ilmaista mielipiteeni.
- Stronger emphasis on your desire: Clearly, I want to express my opinion.
- Feels more like commenting on how obvious your wish is, not on how clearly you express the opinion.

So if you want the English meaning given for the sentence, keep selvästi near ilmaista as in the original.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to say “We want to express our opinions clearly”?

You need to change:

The subject and verb: “I want” → “we want”
The object: “my opinion” → “our opinions” (plural + possessive)

Result:

Haluamme ilmaista mielipiteemme selvästi.

Breakdown:

haluamme – we want (from haluta)
ilmaista – to express
mielipiteemme – our opinions
- base: mielipide – opinion
- plural stem: mielipiteet-
- genitive plural: mielipiteiden → with possessive suffix -mme (our)
  → surface form mielipiteemme (our opinions as object)
selvästi – clearly

So the structure remains the same, but the verb and possessive suffix change to we / our.