Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minusta on tärkeää, että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti. - I think it is important that everyone can study and express their opinion freely.

Minusta on tärkeää, että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti.

I think it is important that everyone can study and express their opinion freely.

Breakdown of Minusta on tärkeää, että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti.

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Questions & Answers about Minusta on tärkeää, että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti.

Why does the sentence start with minusta? Doesn’t that literally mean from me?

Yes, minusta is the elative case of minä (I), and literally it means from me.

In expressions of opinion, Finnish often uses this -sta/-stä form with olla:

Minusta on tärkeää, että… = In my opinion, it is important that…
Sinusta on hauskaa, että… = You think it’s fun that… (literally from you it is fun that…)

It’s a fixed, very common pattern: [person in -sta] + on + adjective = X thinks it is [adjective].

So minusta here doesn’t mean physical movement from me, but from my point of view / in my opinion.

Why is it tärkeää and not tärkeä?

Tärkeää is the partitive form of tärkeä (important).

In sentences like:

Minusta on tärkeää, että…
On hauskaa, että…
On hyvä, että…

Finnish almost always uses the partitive form of the adjective (tärkeää, hauskaa, hyvää).

Reasons (in learner-friendly terms):

The thing that is “important” is not a concrete noun, but an entire että-clause (a whole idea).
With such “impersonal” on + adjective + että-clause structures, Finnish prefers the partitive to talk about a general, abstract quality.

So:

On tärkeää, että jokainen saa…
= It is important that everyone can…

On tärkeä, että… is either wrong or sounds very odd in standard Finnish in this structure; tärkeää is the natural choice.

What exactly is the role of the että-clause in this sentence?

The että-clause:

että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti

functions as the content of what is important. In English terms, it’s like the “that”-clause in:

I think it is important *that everyone can study and express their opinion freely.*

In Finnish, this clause is tightly connected to tärkeää and completes its meaning. You can think of the structure as:

(Minusta) on tärkeää [että-clause].

So the että-clause is not a separate sentence; it’s a subordinate clause that explains what is important.

Why is there a comma before että?

In Finnish punctuation, you normally put a comma before most subordinate clauses, including those introduced by että.

So:

Minusta on tärkeää, että jokainen saa…

The comma separates the main clause (Minusta on tärkeää) from the subordinate että-clause (että jokainen saa…).

Unlike English, where that often appears without a preceding comma, Finnish keeps the comma here as a rule.

Why is it jokainen saa and not jokainen saavat?

Jokainen means each, every (person) and is grammatically singular.

Therefore, the verb must also be singular:

jokainen saa = everyone (each person) is allowed to / can
kaikki saavat = all (people) are allowed to / can (here kaikki is plural, so saavat)

So:

jokainen saa opiskella → singular subject, singular verb.
kaikki saavat opiskella → plural subject, plural verb.

Both are possible sentences, but they have a slightly different nuance (each person vs all people as a group).

Why does the sentence use saa instead of voi?

Both saa (from saada) and voi (from voida) can translate to can in English, but they have different core meanings:

saada + infinitive → to be allowed to, to have the right to
voida + infinitive → to be able to, to be capable of or it is possible to

In this sentence:

jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti

the idea is about rights / permission / freedom, not physical or practical ability. The nuance is:

everyone is allowed to study and express their opinion freely
rather than
everyone is able to study and express their opinion freely.

So saa is the natural choice here.

Why are opiskella and ilmaista in that basic form? What form is that?

Opiskella and ilmaista are in the 1st infinitive form, the basic dictionary form of the verb:

opiskella = to study
ilmaista = to express

After saada in this meaning (to be allowed to), Finnish uses the 1st infinitive:

saa opiskella = is allowed to study
saa ilmaista = is allowed to express

When you have two verbs sharing the same auxiliary (here saa), only the first saa is written and both infinitives follow:

saa opiskella ja ilmaista
= is allowed to study and (is allowed to) express

What does mielipiteensä consist of, and why does it have that form?

Mielipiteensä breaks down as:

mielipide = opinion
stem: mielipite-
case ending: -n (genitive/accusative singular)
possessive suffix: -nsä (3rd person: his/her/their)

So:

mielipiteensä ≈ his/her/their opinion (as a complete object)

Grammatically, it’s the object of ilmaista:

ilmaista mielipiteensä = to express his/her/their opinion

We use the genitive/accusative form because the action refers to expressing the opinion as a whole (a total object), not just “a bit of” it.

How do we know that mielipiteensä refers back to jokainen?

In Finnish, the 3rd person possessive suffix -nsä/-nsa refers to the subject (or logical possessor) of the clause, if there is one.

Here the subject of the että-clause is:

jokainen = everyone

and later we have:

ilmaista mielipiteensä = to express his/her/their opinion

Because jokainen is the “doer” in this clause, mielipiteensä naturally refers to each jokainen’s own opinion. In English we would say their opinion (singular they).

Why is it vapaasti and not vapaa?

Vapaa is an adjective: free (describing a noun).

Vapaasti is the adverb: freely (describing how an action is done).

Here, vapaasti describes how people study and express their opinion:

opiskella vapaasti = to study freely
ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti = to express their opinion freely

So the adverb vapaasti is required, because it modifies the verbs opiskella and ilmaista, not a noun.

Could I say Minun mielestäni on tärkeää, että… instead of Minusta on tärkeää, että…?

Yes. Both are correct and natural:

Minusta on tärkeää, että…
Minun mielestäni on tärkeää, että…

Both mean roughly In my opinion, it is important that…

Nuance:

Minusta is a bit shorter and very common in speech and writing.
Minun mielestäni is slightly more explicit and can feel a bit more formal or emphatic, but it’s also very common.

You can use either; they are near‑synonyms here.

Can I leave out minusta and just say On tärkeää, että jokainen saa…?

Yes.

On tärkeää, että jokainen saa opiskella ja ilmaista mielipiteensä vapaasti.

This means It is important that everyone can study and express their opinion freely, as a more general statement, without explicitly saying in my opinion.

Adding Minusta makes it clearly your personal opinion:

Minusta on tärkeää, että…
= I think it is important that…

Why isn’t there a se (it) in the main clause, like Minusta se on tärkeää, että…?

Finnish doesn’t need an explicit se here. The pattern:

Minusta on tärkeää, että…

already works as “I think it is important that…”.

If you add se:

Minusta se on tärkeää, että jokainen saa…

it is still understandable, but it sounds less natural and slightly clumsy. Finnish usually lets the että-clause itself function as the thing that is important, without inserting a separate pronoun se.