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Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.
Good sleep calms the mind.

Breakdown of Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

hyvä
good
uni
the sleep
rauhoittaa
to calm
mieli
the mind
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Questions & Answers about Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

What does each word in Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä correspond to in English?

Roughly, word by word:

  • hyvä = good
  • uni = sleep / a sleep / a dream (here: “sleep” in general)
  • rauhoittaa = calms, soothes, makes calm (3rd person singular present)
  • mieltä = (the) mind, mood (in the partitive case)

So the whole sentence means something like: “Good sleep calms the mind.”

Why is it hyvä uni and not hyvää uni?

Because hyvä uni is the subject of the sentence.

  • In Finnish, the subject is normally in the nominative case.
  • The noun uni here is nominative singular.
  • Adjectives must agree in case and number with the noun they describe, so the adjective is also nominative singular: hyvä.

You would get hyvää unta if sleep were an object in the partitive, for example:

  • Haluan hyvää unta. = I want good sleep.
    • unta = partitive of uni
    • hyvää = partitive of hyvä, agreeing with unta
What does uni mean exactly — “sleep” or “dream”?

Uni can mean both, depending on context:

  1. sleep (the state of sleeping)

    • Tarvitsen lisää unta. = I need more sleep.
    • Here the partitive unta clearly means “sleep”.

  2. a dream (what you see while sleeping)

    • Näin oudon unen. = I had / saw a strange dream.
    • Here unen (genitive of uni) clearly refers to a dream.

In Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä, it is naturally interpreted as “good sleep” in general, not as “a good dream”.

What case is mieltä, and why is it used here?

Mieltä is the partitive singular of mieli (“mind, mood, spirit”).

  • mieli (nominative) = mind
  • mielen (genitive) = of the mind
  • mieltä (partitive) = mind (as an ongoing / partial / unbounded thing)

Finnish often uses the partitive object:

  • when the effect of the verb is not total or not seen as completed,
  • or when talking about something abstract or unbounded (like “the mind”, “water”, “love”, etc.).

Verbs of influencing, affecting or changing a state (like rauhoittaa “to calm, to soothe”) very commonly take a partitive object when they describe a continuous or partial effect.

So rauhoittaa mieltä naturally means “calm the mind (in general / to some extent / soothe it)”, not “calm the entire mind once and for all”.

Could you say Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mielen instead of mieltä? Would it be wrong?

It’s not strictly wrong, but the nuance changes and mieltä is much more idiomatic here.

  • rauhoittaa mieltä (partitive)

    • Suggests an ongoing, general, or partial calming of the mind.
    • Fits well with a generic statement about what good sleep does.

  • rauhoittaa mielen (genitive = total object)

    • Can imply calming the mind completely / totally in a particular instance.
    • Sounds more like “calm the mind (fully)” in some specific situation.

For a general proverb-like sentence about the beneficial effect of good sleep, Finns strongly prefer mieltä.

Why isn’t there any word for “the” in “the mind”? How do I know it isn’t “a mind” or “your mind”?

Finnish has no articles (a, an, the). The language does not grammatically mark definiteness or indefiniteness.

Whether you translate mieltä as “the mind”, “your mind”, “one’s mind”, or “the mind in general” depends on context:

  • In this generic sentence, it naturally means something like “the mind (in general)” or “one’s mind”.
  • To make it clearly possessive, you would typically add a possessive suffix:
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltäsi. = Good sleep calms your mind.
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa hänen mieltään. = Good sleep calms his/her mind.

Finnish often leaves the possessor unmentioned when it’s obvious or generic, as here.

How would I explicitly say “your mind” or “my mind” in this sentence?

You can show possession in two main ways:

  1. Possessive suffix (most natural)

    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltäni. = Good sleep calms my mind.
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltäsi. = Good sleep calms your mind.
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltämme. = Good sleep calms our mind(s).

  2. Pronoun + noun + (optional) possessive suffix

    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa minun mieltäni. (emphatic: my mind)
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa sinun mieltäsi. (emphatic: your mind)

Using both a pronoun and a suffix (e.g. sinun mieltäsi) is possible but usually slightly emphatic or contrastive.

What’s the dictionary form of rauhoittaa, and is there a related intransitive verb?

The dictionary (infinitive) form is rauhoittaa.

  • rauhoittaa = to calm, to soothe, to make something/someone calm
    • It is transitive: it takes an object.
    • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä. = Good sleep calms the mind.

There is a closely related intransitive verb:

  • rauhoittua = to calm down, to become calm (by itself)
    • Mieli rauhoittuu. = The mind calms down.
    • Lapsi rauhoittui. = The child calmed down.

So:

  • rauhoittaa = “make [something] calm”
  • rauhoittua = “become calm”
Why is rauhoittaa spelled with -ittaa and double tt? How is it pronounced?

Rauhoittaa is formed from the adjective rauhallinen (“calm”) / noun rauha (“peace”) with a causative ending -ttaa, meaning “to make [something] calm/peaceful”.

  • Spelling: rau-hoit-taa
    • au is a diphthong, pronounced as one syllable.
    • tt is a long consonant (geminate): you hold the t sound a bit longer.

Pronunciation pattern (syllables): RAU–hoit–taa
Primary stress is on the first syllable in Finnish: RAU-hoit-taa.

Is rauhoittaa here in the present tense? How is it conjugated?

Yes, rauhoittaa in Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä is present tense, 3rd person singular.

Conjugation in the present:

  • minä rauhoitan = I calm
  • sinä rauhoitat = you calm
  • hän / se rauhoittaa = he/she/it calms
  • me rauhoitamme = we calm
  • te rauhoitatte = you (pl.) calm
  • he rauhoittavat = they calm

Notice that the infinitive form and 3rd person singular look the same in spelling (rauhoittaa), but in context this is clearly a finite verb meaning “calms”.

Could I change the word order, for example to Mieltä rauhoittaa hyvä uni? What would that mean?

Yes. Finnish has relatively flexible word order, and changes usually affect emphasis / information structure, not basic meaning.

  • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

    • Neutral, subject-first.
    • “Good sleep calms the mind.”

  • Mieltä rauhoittaa hyvä uni.

    • Puts mieltä first and hyvä uni last.
    • Emphasis on good sleep as the thing that does the calming.
    • Roughly: “It’s good sleep that calms the mind.”

  • Uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

    • More general: “Sleep calms the mind.”
    • No adjective, or you could be answering “What calms the mind?” with “Sleep calms the mind.”

So changing word order is mostly about focus and what is being highlighted.

Can I say Hyvä uni rauhoittaa sinua instead of mieltä?

You can, but it means something slightly different:

  • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa mieltä.

    • Focus on the mind or mood specifically.

  • Hyvä uni rauhoittaa sinua.

    • Literally: “Good sleep calms you (down).”
    • The effect is on you as a person, not specifically on your “mind”.

Both are grammatical. Which one you choose depends on what you want to emphasize: the calming of the mind/mood, or the calming of you more generally.

How would I negate this sentence in Finnish?

You negate it using the negative verb ei plus the connegative form of the main verb:

  • Hyvä uni ei rauhoita mieltä.
    • ei = not (3rd person singular here)
    • rauhoita = negative form of rauhoittaa (no -aa ending)
    • “Good sleep does not calm the mind.”

The object mieltä stays in the partitive, as is typical with negative sentences in Finnish.