Breakdown of Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
Questions & Answers about Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
Minusta is the elative case of minä (“I”). Literally it means “from me”.
In this sentence, Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea, the structure minusta + olla is a very common way to express an opinion:
- Minusta tämä on hyvä. = In my opinion, this is good.
- Minusta elokuva oli tylsä. = I think the movie was boring.
So:
- minä = I (basic form, nominative)
- minusta = from me → in my opinion, to me, I think
Finnish often uses a case form (here, elative: “from”) where English uses an abstract phrase like “in my opinion.” It’s not about physical movement “from me”; it’s a fixed idiomatic grammar pattern for opinions.
Yes, you can leave Minusta out:
- Tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
Grammatically, that’s perfectly correct. The difference is nuance:
With Minusta:
You highlight that this is your opinion – “I think that this café is a suitable place to learn Finnish.”Without Minusta:
It sounds a bit more general or objective, like a simple statement of fact – “This café is a suitable place to learn Finnish.”
In real conversation, context and tone usually make it clear whether it’s an opinion or a fact, so both are natural. Using Minusta just makes the subjectivity explicit.
You can absolutely say:
- Mielestäni tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
It means essentially the same thing as Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
Differences:
minusta
- Literally: from me
- Slightly more neutral and very common in speech.
- Pattern: Minusta X on Y (I think X is Y)
mielestäni
- Literally: from my mind / from my opinion (from mieli “mind, opinion” + -ni “my”)
- Slightly more explicit about “opinion” and a bit more formal or careful in tone.
- Pattern: Mielestäni X on Y
In everyday talk, minusta is very frequent. Mielestäni is also common and maybe a little more “polished.” They are interchangeable in most contexts.
Oppia (“to learn”) usually takes its object in the partitive case when we talk about learning a skill, a language, or something that is not seen as a single completed “whole”. So:
- oppia suomea = to learn Finnish (as a language in general, as a process)
- suomea is the partitive form of suomi.
Using the basic form suomi (nominative) as a direct, complete object after oppia is unusual in this kind of sentence. It would sound like you’re talking about some bounded, whole “portion” of Finnish in a very specific sense, which doesn’t really match the normal idea of learning a language.
So in practice:
- Haluan oppia suomea. = I want to learn Finnish (the language, generally).
- Hän oppi espanjaa nopeasti. = He/She learned Spanish quickly.
Languages after oppia: almost always partitive.
In Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea, oppia is the basic infinitive form (1st infinitive), often used:
After a noun to show purpose:
- paikka oppia suomea = a place (in order) to learn Finnish
- Similar patterns:
- tilaisuus nähdä = an opportunity to see
- aika tehdä läksyt = time to do homework
As the dictionary form: the neutral way to say “to learn”.
The form oppimaan (the “third infinitive in illative”) is used mainly after verbs that indicate movement or starting something:
- Menen kahvilaan oppimaan suomea. = I’m going to the café to learn Finnish (to start learning there).
- Aloitin oppimaan suomea. (more natural: Aloitin opiskelemaan suomea.)
Opiskelemaan comes from opiskella (“to study”), which emphasizes the activity of studying rather than the result. If you said:
- Tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka opiskella suomea.
the meaning is very close, just slightly more about the studying process than the idea of “learning.” In this context, both oppia suomea and opiskella suomea sound natural.
Both are possible, but they’re slightly different structures:
sopiva paikka oppia suomea
- Literally: a suitable place (in order) to learn Finnish
- Uses the infinitive oppia directly after paikka to indicate purpose.
- Very compact and natural.
paikka, jossa voi oppia suomea
- Literally: a place where one can learn Finnish
- Uses a relative clause (jossa voi oppia suomea = “where one can learn Finnish”).
- Slightly longer and more descriptive.
In your original sentence, the focus is on suitability for a purpose. The infinitive construction (paikka oppia suomea) efficiently expresses that purpose. The relative-clause version would sound a little more like you’re giving extra information about this café rather than simply saying it’s a good place for learning. Both are correct; the original is just more streamlined.
Yes, you can also say:
- Tämä kahvila on minusta sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
That is grammatical and natural. Differences in nuance:
Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
- Starts with Minusta, immediately marking this as your opinion.
Tämä kahvila on minusta sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
- First presents the café, then adds minusta as a sort of comment:
“This café is, in my view, a suitable place to learn Finnish.”
- First presents the café, then adds minusta as a sort of comment:
So the second version feels slightly more like you’re stating something and then adding “to me / in my opinion” as a softer qualifier. In everyday speech, both word orders are completely fine; the difference is subtle.
- tämä kahvila = this café (the café as a place or business, in general)
- tässä kahvilassa = in this café (inside this café, location)
Your sentence:
- Minusta tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
Literally: In my opinion, this café is a suitable place to learn Finnish.
You’re describing the café as a place (a suitable place), not your physical location in it. So tämä kahvila (nominative) as the subject is natural.
If you said:
- Minusta tässä kahvilassa on hyvä oppia suomea.
that would emphasize the situation in this café (the atmosphere, environment inside it) as being good for learning Finnish. Both make sense, but they focus slightly differently:
- tämä kahvila → the café as an entity, a “place”
- tässä kahvilassa → inside this café, from the viewpoint of being there
You can say sopii (from sopia, “to suit / to fit / to be suitable”), but the structure must be different.
Your original:
- Tämä kahvila on sopiva paikka oppia suomea.
- on = is
- sopiva = suitable (adjective)
- paikka = place
- Literally: This café is a suitable place to learn Finnish.
With sopia, a natural version would be:
- Minusta tämä kahvila sopii hyvin suomen opiskeluun.
- In my opinion, this café suits Finnish studying well / is well-suited for studying Finnish.
Minusta tämä kahvila sopii oppia suomea is not correct Finnish. After sopia, you don’t use the infinitive oppia as a direct complement in that way. You’d typically use:
- sopia johonkin (with illative): sopii suomen opiskeluun = is suitable for studying Finnish
- or sopia joksikin (with translative): sopii paikaksi = is suitable as a place
So:
- on sopiva paikka oppia suomea = uses adjective + noun + infinitive
- sopii suomen opiskeluun = uses verb sopia
- noun in a case showing “for something”
Both are common patterns; they just work differently grammatically.