Learn Hardcore Finnish: Sinkkuystäväni etsii tasapainoa työn ja vapaa-ajan välille. - My single friend is looking for a balance between work and free time.

So sinkkuystäväni literally means my single friend. In Finnish, possession is very often shown with a suffix (-ni, -si, -mme, etc.) instead of (or in addition to) a separate pronoun.

You can also say minun sinkkuystäväni, but minun is optional and usually only added for emphasis:

Sinkkuystäväni etsii… – My single friend is looking…
Minun sinkkuystäväni etsii… – My single friend (as opposed to someone else’s) is looking…

Could sinkku ystäväni (two words) be used instead of sinkkuystäväni? Is there any difference?

You might occasionally see sinkku ystäväni written as two words, but the normal, natural form is the compound sinkkuystäväni.

Nuance:

sinkkuystäväni – sounds like a more established description, almost like a category (my friend who is single as a known type).
sinkku ystäväni – can sound more like “my friend, who happens to be single”, with sinkku felt more as a separate adjective, but this is less idiomatic.

In everyday standard Finnish, compound nouns like sinkkuystävä are preferred, so sinkkuystäväni is the best form here.

Why is it etsii and not something like etsi or etsiiN? How is the verb formed?

The verb is etsiä – to look for, to search.

Conjugation in the present tense, singular:

minä etsin – I look for
sinä etsit – you look for
hän etsii – he/she/they (sg.) looks for

Our sentence has hän as an implied subject (the friend), so we need the 3rd person singular form:

(Hän) etsii → Sinkkuystäväni etsii…

So:

etsi alone is the imperative (command): look (for)!
etsii is 3rd person singular present: he/she looks for
There is no “etsiin” in the present tense; that form would be a different case/inflection of a noun or part of another verb paradigm, not a present-tense 3rd person.

Why is tasapainoa in the form tasapainoA and not just tasapaino?

Tasapaino means balance.
Tasapainoa is the partitive singular form.

Reasons for using the partitive here:

Searching for something not yet achieved / indefinite
In Finnish, when you are looking for, wanting, needing, or lacking something that you don’t yet have in a concrete, completed way, you often use the partitive:
- etsiä tasapainoa – to seek (some) balance
- etsiä työtä – to look for work
- etsiä asuntoa – to look for an apartment
Abstract, uncountable concept
Balance is more like a continuous quality than a clear, countable object, which also favors the partitive.

So etsii tasapainoa roughly corresponds to is looking for (a sense of) balance.

Why are työn and vapaa-ajan in those forms? What cases are they?

Both työn and vapaa-ajan are genitive singular forms:

työ → työn (work → of work)
vapaa-aika → vapaa-ajan (free time → of free time)

They are in the genitive because they are used with väli (space, gap, “between”) in the structure:

[GENITIVE] + ja + [GENITIVE] + väli-
literally: the space of work and (of) free time

So:

työn ja vapaa-ajan väli – the space/gap between work and free time
In our sentence, this becomes part of the phrase työn ja vapaa-ajan välille (with väli inflected further; see next question).

What exactly is välille, and how does it work in this sentence?

The base word is väli – space, gap, interval, “between”.

Välille is the allative singular form of väli. The local case series for väli looks like:

väli – base form
väliin – into the space between
välissä – in the space between
välistä – out of the space between
välillä – at/on the space between
väliltä – from the space between
välille – onto / to the space between

The construction here is:

työn ja vapaa-ajan (both genitive) + välille (allative)
→ onto the space between work and free time

With etsiä tasapainoa, this becomes a natural idiom:

etsii tasapainoa työn ja vapaa-ajan välille
literally: is seeking balance onto the space between work and free time
meaning: is seeking balance between work and free time.

Why is it välille and not välillä or väliltä? What would those mean?

These three forms express different spatial relations:

välillä (adessive) – on/at the space between → more static
väliltä (ablative) – from the space between → movement away
välille (allative) – onto/to the space between → movement towards

In our sentence, we talk about trying to establish balance into that “between” area, so the idea is directional: towards a balanced position between work and free time. That’s why the allative välille is used:

etsii tasapainoa työn ja vapaa-ajan välille
→ is trying to get balance into that in‑between area.

If you said:

tasapaino työn ja vapaa-ajan välillä
that describes balance existing between work and free time (more static).

So:

välille – movement toward that in‑between
välillä – location in that in‑between

Could the sentence also be Sinkkuystäväni etsii tasapainoa työn ja vapaa-ajan välillä? Would that be wrong?

It wouldn’t be wrong; it’s grammatically correct and understandable:

Sinkkuystäväni etsii tasapainoa työn ja vapaa-ajan välillä.

This version focuses slightly more on balance existing between work and free time (using the adessive välillä). It’s almost equivalent in meaning, and many speakers would find it perfectly natural.

However, with etsiä tasapainoa, the pattern [GEN + GEN + välille] is very idiomatic, because it mirrors the idea of moving toward a balanced situation in that space. So:

välille = a bit more dynamic, “into that between‑area” (very common here)
välillä = more static “in the between‑area” (also acceptable, but feels slightly different in nuance)

How is the word order decided? Could I say Tasapainoa etsii sinkkuystäväni työn ja vapaa-ajan välille?

Basic neutral word order in Finnish main clauses is:

Subject
Verb
Objects and other elements

So the neutral version is:

Sinkkuystäväni (S) etsii (V) tasapainoa (O) työn ja vapaa-ajan välille (adverbial).

Your alternative:

Tasapainoa etsii sinkkuystäväni työn ja vapaa-ajan välille

is also grammatically correct. Putting tasapainoa first gives it extra emphasis or topicality, something like:

It’s balance (specifically) that my single friend is looking for between work and free time.

Finnish allows relatively free word order, but the SVX order is the default neutral one. Other orders change what is emphasized or what is treated as known/new information.

Is sinkkuystäväni gendered? Does it mean specifically girlfriend/boyfriend?

No, sinkkuystäväni is not gendered and does not inherently mean boyfriend or girlfriend.

sinkku – single (regarding relationship status)
ystävä – friend

So sinkkuystäväni simply means my friend who is single, and the gender is not specified. If you wanted to express girlfriend or boyfriend specifically, you would more likely use other words, such as:

poikaystävä – boyfriend
tyttöystävä – girlfriend
kumppani – partner (gender-neutral, but romantic context)

Here the sentence is about a friend who happens to be single.

Why is there no article like a or the in the Finnish sentence?

Finnish has no articles (no equivalent of a/an or the). Definiteness and indefiniteness are expressed through:

context,
word order,
pronouns if needed,
and sometimes case choices.

So:

Sinkkuystäväni etsii tasapainoa…
can correspond to:
My single friend is looking for balance…
(with English choosing the, a, or no article according to context)

You don’t add any extra word in Finnish; you just use the nouns as they are, and the listener infers definiteness from the situation.