Learn Hardcore Finnish: Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua.

The grammatical subject is jatkuva melu (constant noise). The noise is doing the action (häiritsee), and minua is the person affected by that action, so Finnish puts minä into object case, here partitive: minua.

So structurally the sentence is:

Jatkuva melu (subject)
häiritsee (verb)
minua (object / experiencer)

What case is minua, and why is that case used here?

Minua is in the partitive case.

With many verbs of feeling or mental state, Finnish uses partitive for the person who experiences something:

Se kiinnostaa minua. – It interests me.
Pimeä pelottaa minua. – The dark scares me.
Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua. – Constant noise bothers me.

So minua here is the partitive object indicating the person being disturbed. You normally do not say häiritsee minut in this meaning.

Why is melu the subject and not minä?

In Finnish, the subject is the thing that performs or causes the action.

melu = noise
jatkuva melu häiritsee = the noise does the disturbing

So:

Subject: jatkuva melu
Verb: häiritsee (3rd person singular -> agrees with melu)
Object/experiencer: minua

This is different from English, where we often make the person the subject (I am bothered by constant noise). Finnish keeps the cause (melu) as the subject.

Why is it häiritsee and not häiritä?

Häiritä is the dictionary form (the infinitive).
In a real sentence, you conjugate the verb to match the subject.

The verb is:

häiritä – to disturb, to bother

Present tense conjugation (singular):

minä häiritsen – I disturb
sinä häiritset – you disturb
hän häiritsee – he/she/it disturbs

In Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua, the subject is jatkuva melu (3rd person singular), so you must use häiritsee.

What tense/aspect is häiritsee? Does it mean disturbs or is disturbing?

Finnish has just one present tense form here: häiritsee.

It can correspond to both:

Constant noise disturbs me. (general fact)
The constant noise is disturbing me. (right now)

Context decides whether it’s habitual/general or happening now. If you want to stress right now, you can add nyt:

Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua nyt. – The constant noise is disturbing me now.

Why is it jatkuva melu, not jatkuvaa melua?

Because jatkuva melu is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

jatkuva melu häiritsee minua – constant noise bothers me (noise = subject)

If melu were an object, it could appear in partitive:

Kuulen jatkuvaa melua. – I hear constant noise.
- jatkuvaa melua is now object (partitive), not subject.

So:

Subject: jatkuva melu → nominative
Object: often jatkuvaa melua → partitive (when it’s the thing you perceive, etc.)

What kind of word is jatkuva, and how does it change?

Jatkuva is an adjective meaning constant, continuous. It’s related to the verb jatkua (to continue).

It behaves like a regular adjective and agrees with the noun in case and number:

jatkuva melu – constant noise (nominative singular)
jatkuvan melun – of the constant noise (genitive singular)
jatkuvaa melua – (some) constant noise (partitive singular)
jatkuvat äänet – constant sounds (nominative plural)

In the sentence Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua, it’s nominative singular, matching melu.

Can the word order change, for example Minua häiritsee jatkuva melu?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible.

All of these are grammatical:

Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua.
Minua häiritsee jatkuva melu.
Jatkuva melu minua häiritsee. (more marked/emphatic)

The differences are mainly emphasis and what is presented as “old” vs “new” information:

Starting with Jatkuva melu focuses on the noise as the topic.
Starting with Minua emphasises me, or that I am affected.

But the core meaning (constant noise bothers me) is the same.

Could I say Melu häiritsee minua jatkuvasti instead? What’s the difference?

Yes:

Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua.
- Focus on the noise itself being constant: constant noise bothers me.
Melu häiritsee minua jatkuvasti.
- Focus on how often it bothers you: noise bothers me constantly.

Grammatically:

jatkuva = adjective (constant) modifying melu
jatkuvasti = adverb (constantly) modifying the verb häiritsee

Both are natural; the nuance changes slightly.

What is the difference between melu, ääni, and meteli?

All relate to sound, but with different shades of meaning:

melu – noise, often neutral or mildly negative, can be just general noise
ääni – sound, voice (neutral; also used for someone’s voice)
meteli – racket, loud noise, usually clearly negative and loud

So:

Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua. – Constant noise bothers me.
Jatkuva meteli häiritsee minua. – The constant racket really bothers me (stronger).
Ääni häiritsee minua. – The sound/the voice bothers me.

Why is there no word for the or a in Jatkuva melu häiritsee minua?

Finnish doesn’t have articles (no the, a, or an).

The phrase jatkuva melu can mean:

the constant noise
a constant noise
constant noise (in general)

Context tells you whether you’re talking about:

some specific noise already known in the situation → the constant noise
noise in general / as a general fact → constant noise

If you want to make it clearly specific, you can add tämä (this):

Tämä jatkuva melu häiritsee minua. – This constant noise is bothering me.

When would I use minut instead of minua with häiritä?

In practice, you almost always use minua (partitive) with häiritä in this meaning.

Melu häiritsee minua. – The noise bothers me. (normal)

Minut is the accusative form (total object). With häiritä, using minut would sound very unusual or imply a very completed, almost physical disturbance; it’s not how people normally express “X bothers me”.

So for X disturbs/bothers me, stick to:

X häiritsee minua.

Is it okay to say Jatkuva melu häiritsee mua?

Yes, but it’s colloquial spoken Finnish.

minua → standard / written form
mua → common spoken form

In informal speech you’ll often hear:

Jatkuva melu häiritsee mua.

In writing (especially formal or any learning materials), use minua.