Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minun pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä. - I should find a better balance between studying and rest.

Minä pitäisi – ungrammatical in this meaning.
Minä pitäisin – grammatical Finnish, but it means I would like / would keep / would hold, depending on context; it does not mean I should.

So for must / should, you need the pattern minun pitää / minun pitäisi + infinitive.

What exactly does pitäisi mean here, and how strong is it compared to pitää?

The verb pitää has several meanings, but in this sentence it is a modal verb of obligation.

Minun pitää löytää…
→ strong obligation: I have to / I must find…
Minun pitäisi löytää…
→ conditional mood, softer obligation: I should / I ought to find…

So pitäisi is the conditional form of pitää. Using the conditional:

softens the statement
makes it sound more like a recommendation, self-criticism, or wish
is often more polite or modest

In English terms, pitää ≈ must / have to, while pitäisi ≈ should / ought to.

Why is löytää in the basic dictionary form and not conjugated like löydän?

After many modal or “helper” verbs in Finnish, the next verb appears in the 1st infinitive, which is the dictionary form:

Minun pitää lähteä. – I must leave.
Minun haluan oppia. → actually Haluan oppia. – I want to learn.
Minun pitäisi löytää. – I should find.

So you don’t say minun pitäisi löydän. Instead:

minun pitäisi (conjugated) + löytää (infinitive)

This is very similar to English “I should find”, “I want to learn”, where only the first verb changes form and the second stays in the base form.

Why are opiskelu and lepo changed to opiskelun and levon here?

The forms opiskelun and levon are the genitive singular of:

opiskelu – studying, study (as an activity)
lepo – rest

They are in the genitive because of the postposition välillä (between), which requires the genitive:

X:n ja Y:n välillä – between X and Y

So:

opiskelu → opiskelun
lepo → levon
opiskelun ja levon välillä – between studying and rest

You cannot say opiskelu ja lepo välillä; that breaks the required genitive after välillä.

What exactly does välillä mean, and how is it different from similar words like välissä?

Välillä comes from the noun väli (gap, space, interval, in-between).

As a postposition, X:n ja Y:n välillä means:

between X and Y (in terms of position, time, or more abstractly: balance, relationship, etc.)

Compare:

Pöydän ja tuolin välillä on matto.
There is a rug between the table and the chair.
Opiskelun ja levon välillä
between studying and rest

Välissä is more literally “in the middle, inside the space”, often more physical:

Kaksi taloa on, ja minä asun niiden välissä.
There are two houses, and I live in between them (in the space between).

In your sentence, välillä is the standard form used for the more abstract idea of “balance between two things”.

What is the difference between opiskelu and opiskella?

They look similar but have different roles:

opiskella – verb, to study
- Opiskelen suomea. – I study Finnish.
opiskelu – noun, studying, study (the activity, in general)
- Opiskelu on tärkeää. – Studying is important.

In the sentence:

opiskelun ja levon välillä
literally: between (the) studying and (the) rest

So here opiskelu is a noun, not a verb. Its genitive form opiskelun is used because of välillä.

Is parempi a comparative form, and how does it work in parempi tasapaino?

Yes. Parempi is the comparative of hyvä (good).

hyvä – good
parempi – better
paras – best

In parempi tasapaino:

parempi – better (adjective, comparative)
tasapaino – balance

So parempi tasapaino means a better balance.

You cannot say enemmän hyvä tasapaino for more good balance; you must use the comparative:

parempi tasapaino – a better balance

Why is it parempi tasapaino and not paremman tasapainon?

Two things are happening here:

Case of the object with an infinitive
The verb löytää (to find) takes an object. With infinitive structures like pitäisi löytää, that object is generally in the nominative (the basic form):
- Minun pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino.
  I should find a better balance.
So both parempi and tasapaino stay in the nominative.
What would paremman tasapainon be?
- paremman – genitive of parempi
- tasapainon – genitive of tasapaino
That combination paremman tasapainon would only be correct if the whole noun phrase needed to be in genitive for some other reason, for example:
- Löydän paremman tasapainon. – I (will) find a better balance.
  (here löydän is a finite verb, and paremman tasapainon is a total object in genitive)

In your sentence, because löytää is in the infinitive in this necessive construction, the natural form is parempi tasapaino (nominative), not paremman tasapainon.

How flexible is the word order? Could I say Minun pitäisi parempi tasapaino löytää?

Finnish word order is more flexible than English, but not totally free. The most natural order here is:

Minun pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.

This follows the common pattern:

Subject (or experiencer) – modal verb – infinitive – object – adverbials

You can move things around for emphasis, but some orders sound very odd:

Parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä pitäisi löytää.
Grammatically possible, but quite marked; emphasizes “a better balance between studying and rest” as topic.
Minun pitäisi parempi tasapaino löytää.
Feels unnatural; splitting löytää from its object this way is usually avoided unless there is a strong reason.

As a learner, stick to:

Minun pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.

Can I omit Minun and just say Pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä?

Yes. In Finnish, subject pronouns are often dropped when they are clear from context. Here, minun is understood from the situation, so you can say:

Pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.

This is very natural, especially in speech or informal writing. It usually still means “I should find…”, assuming you’re talking about yourself.

If you need to be explicit or contrast people, you keep it:

Minun pitäisi löytää parempi tasapaino, ei sinun.
I should find a better balance, not you.

How would I say “I should have found a better balance between studying and rest”?

For “should have done”, Finnish uses a perfect conditional construction:

[Genitive pronoun] + olisi pitänyt + infinitive

So:

Minun olisi pitänyt löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.
I should have found a better balance between studying and rest.

Breakdown:

Minun – of me
olisi – conditional of olla (would be)
pitänyt – past participle of pitää
löytää – find (infinitive)
parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä – a better balance between studying and rest

Literally: “It would have been necessary for me to find a better balance…”

Is there a more colloquial / spoken Finnish version of this sentence?

Yes. In spoken Finnish, forms are often shortened:

Minun → mun
pitäisi → pitäis

A natural colloquial version:

Mun pitäis löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.

Even more colloquial (especially in speech):

Pitäis löytää parempi tasapaino opiskelun ja levon välillä.
(dropping mun, as in the standard language)

You may also hear past colloquial forms like ois pitäny for olisi pitänyt in sentences about the past.

How do I pronounce pitäisi and löytää?

Approximate pronunciations (in English-friendly terms):

pitäisi – [pi-TÆI-si]
- pi – like “pee”, but short
- täi – like “ta” in “taco”
  - “ee”* (a rising diphthong)
- si – like “see”, but short
- Stress on the first syllable: PI-täi-si
löytää – [LØY-tæː]
- löy – like French “leu” in “peu”
  - a light y, roughly like “leu-y”
- tää – like “tæ” but with a long ä (hold the vowel: tææ)
- Stress on the first syllable: LÖY-tää

Key points for Finnish pronunciation:

Stress is always on the first syllable.
Double vowels (like ää) are long; hold them noticeably longer than short vowels.
The ä sound is like “a” in “cat”, but pure and not turning into “ei”.