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En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.

En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.
I still don’t understand how this device works.
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Questions & Answers about En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.

Why is there no minä in En vielä ymmärrä? Shouldn’t it be Minä en vielä ymmärrä?

Finnish usually drops subject pronouns when they’re obvious from the verb ending.

  • En already tells you the subject is I (1st person singular).
  • So En vielä ymmärrä = “I don’t understand yet”, even without minä.

You can say Minä en vielä ymmärrä if you want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else), but in normal speech and writing minä is often omitted.

Why is it en ymmärrä and not en ymmärrän?

Finnish makes negatives with a special negative verb plus a special form of the main verb.

  • Affirmative: ymmärrän = I understand

    • verb stem: ymmärrä-
    • personal ending: -n (1st person singular)

  • Negative: en ymmärrä = I don’t understand

    • en = negative verb in 1st person singular
    • ymmärrä = “connegative” form of the main verb (no personal ending)

The personal ending moves to the negative verb (en) so the main verb loses its ending. That’s why it’s en ymmärrä, not en ymmärrän.

What exactly does vielä mean here, and how is it different from jo and enää?

In this sentence, vielä means “yet” in a not-yet-but-expected-later sense.

  • En vielä ymmärrä. = “I don’t understand yet.” (but I probably will later)
  • Ymmärrän jo. = “I already understand.”
  • En enää ymmärrä. = “I no longer understand / I don’t understand anymore.”

So for time-related meanings:

  • vielä = still / yet (neutral or positive expectation)
  • jo = already
  • enää = anymore (only used in negative sentences)

All three are very common and easy to mix up.

Could I say En ymmärrä vielä instead of En vielä ymmärrä? Does the word order matter?

Both are correct, and both can mean “I don’t understand yet.”

  • En vielä ymmärrä – the default, neutral word order.
  • En ymmärrä vielä – also fine; sometimes gives slightly more emphasis to the “not yet” part, especially in spoken language.

Finnish word order with adverbs like vielä is fairly flexible, but En vielä ymmärrä is the most textbook-like version.

Why is there a comma before kuinka in En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii?

Finnish punctuation uses commas more often than English, especially before subordinate clauses.

  • kuinka tämä laite toimii is a subordinate clause (an embedded question).
  • The main clause is En vielä ymmärrä.
  • The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate clause, so the standard written form is:
    En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.

In English we don’t usually put a comma before “how” here:
“I don’t yet understand how this device works.”

What’s the difference between kuinka and miten here? Can I say miten tämä laite toimii?

Yes, you can. In this sentence, kuinka and miten are basically interchangeable.

  • kuinka tämä laite toimii
  • miten tämä laite toimii

Both mean “how this device works”.

Nuances (very small, and often irrelevant in everyday speech):

  • miten is more common in spoken language.
  • kuinka can sound a bit more formal or literary in some contexts, and can also mean “how” in the sense of “how much/how + adjective” (e.g. Kuinka vaikeaa tämä on? = “How difficult is this?”).

But for “how does this device work?”, both are fine.

Why is the word order kuinka tämä laite toimii and not something like kuinka toimii tämä laite?

Finnish indirect questions keep the normal statement word order: Subject–Verb–(Object).

  • Statement: Tämä laite toimii. = “This device works.”
  • Embedded question: kuinka tämä laite toimii = “how this device works”

So you take the normal sentence and just put kuinka / miten at the front without changing the order.

Kuinka toimii tämä laite is not normal Finnish word order here and would sound unnatural in this context.

What exactly does laite mean, and how is it different from kone?

Laite means device, appliance, piece of equipment — a fairly general word for things like:

  • electronic devices
  • lab equipment
  • technical gadgets

Kone usually means machine, often something larger or more mechanical, for example:

  • pesukone = washing machine
  • lentokone = airplane
  • kahvikone = coffee machine

In many everyday situations there’s overlap, and choice depends on habit:

  • A smartphone is almost always laite, not kone.
  • A washing machine is more naturally kone.

In your sentence, tämä laite is best translated as “this device” or “this piece of equipment”.

Why is the verb toimia used for the device? Could I use something like työskennellä?

For machines, systems and solutions, Finnish uses toimia to mean “to work / to function / to operate”.

  • Tämä laite toimii. = “This device works / functions.”
  • Miten tämä laite toimii? = “How does this device work?”

The verb työskennellä means “to work” as in “to do one’s job”, and is used for people:

  • Hän työskentelee lääkärinä. = “He/She works as a doctor.”

So for devices and systems, use toimia, not työskennellä.

Why is it toimii and not just toimi or toimia?

Toimia is the basic infinitive form (the dictionary form).
In your sentence we need the 3rd person singular present:

  • Verb: toimia
  • Stem: toimi-
  • 3rd person singular present ending: -i
  • Long vowel appears: toimi + i → toimii

So:

  • hän toimii = “he/she/it works / functions”
  • tämä laite toimii = “this device works”

toimi (without the second i) is normally a different form (e.g. past tense stem) and not correct here in standard present-tense speech.

Why doesn’t ymmärrän take a direct object here? Could I say En vielä ymmärrä tätä laitetta?

Both structures are possible, but they mean slightly different things.

  1. En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.

    • Focus: you don’t yet understand the way it works / the process / the functioning.
    • The thing you don’t understand is expressed as a clause:
      kuinka tämä laite toimii = “how this device works”.

  2. En vielä ymmärrä tätä laitetta.

    • Grammatically: tätä laitetta is a partitive object of ymmärrän.
    • Meaning: more like “I don’t yet understand this device (as a whole)”, or “I’m not familiar/comfortable with it yet.”

So yes, you can say En vielä ymmärrä tätä laitetta, but the original sentence is more specific: it’s about not understanding how it operates.

What’s going on with the consonants in ymmärtää vs ymmärrä?

This is an example of consonant gradation, a common sound change in Finnish.

  • Dictionary form: ymmärtää
  • Stem in many forms (including ymmärrä-): the rt changes to rr

Relevant forms:

  • (minä) ymmärrän – “I understand”
  • en ymmärrä – “I don’t understand”

Both use the ymmärrä- stem (the “weak grade” with rr instead of rt). In the negative, the stem appears without a personal ending: ymmärrä.

Learners mostly just need to remember that the verb alternates between rt and rr; the patterns become more intuitive with exposure.

How would this sentence look in the past tense?

You change both main and subordinate clauses to past tense:

  • Present:
    En vielä ymmärrä, kuinka tämä laite toimii.
    = “I don’t yet understand how this device works.”

  • Past:
    En vielä ymmärtänyt, kuinka tämä laite toimi.
    = “I didn’t yet understand how this device worked.”

Changes:

  • ymmärrä → ymmärsin (affirmative) / ymmärrä → ymmärta/nut (past participle)
    In the negative past: en ymmärtänyt
  • toimii → toimi (3rd person singular past)