Learn Hardcore Finnish: Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle. - Salary is an important thing for me.

palkka – “salary, pay, wages.”
- Nominative singular.
- It’s the subject of the sentence.
on – “is.”
- 3rd person singular of the verb olla (to be).
- The linking verb / copula.
tärkeä – “important.”
- Basic (dictionary) form, nominative singular.
- An adjective describing asia.
asia – literally “thing, matter, issue.”
- Nominative singular.
- The predicative noun: what the subject (palkka) “is.”
minulle – “to me / for me.”
- Allative case of minä (“I”): minä → minulle.
- Expresses whose point of view this is: “important to me.”

So structurally:
Palkka (subject) on (is) tärkeä asia (an important thing/matter) minulle (to me).

Why is it minulle and not minun or minua?

These three forms are different cases of minä (“I”):

minun – genitive: “my, of me.”
- Used before a noun: minun palkkani = “my salary.”
- Not used here because we are not saying “my salary” or “my thing”; we’re saying “important to me.”
minua – partitive: “me” in some object and feeling structures.
- Example: Minua väsyttää = “I feel tired.” (literally “It tires me.”)
- Not used for “important to me.”
minulle – allative: “to me / for me / onto me.”
- Often used to express something being for someone, to someone, or important to someone:
  - Se on minulle tärkeää. = “That is important to me.”
  - Tämä kirja on sinulle. = “This book is for you.”

In Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle, minulle matches the pattern “X on tärkeä Y-lle” = “X is important to Y.”

Is minulle closer to “to me” or “for me” in English?

Literally, minulle is “to me,” but in many contexts it translates better as “for me” or “to me” depending on the English idiom.

In this sentence:

Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle
- Natural English: “Salary is important to me.”

You could also say “Salary is an important issue for me,” and that is still a good translation. Finnish minulle doesn’t strictly force the preposition; it just expresses the idea that this importance is from my point of view / for my benefit.

Can I change the word order, like Palkka on minulle tärkeä asia or Minulle palkka on tärkeä asia?

Yes, you can, and all of these are grammatically correct:

Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle.
Palkka on minulle tärkeä asia.
Minulle palkka on tärkeä asia.

The differences are about emphasis, not basic meaning:

Version 1 (original): neutral, slightly focusing on tärkeä asia (“an important thing”) and then specifying “to me” at the end.
Version 2: brings minulle closer to tärkeä asia, subtly tying “important thing” and “to me” more tightly.
Version 3: starts with Minulle, which emphasizes the personal viewpoint:
- “For me, salary is an important thing.”

In spoken Finnish, fronting Minulle is a common way to highlight contrast:

Minulle palkka on tärkeä asia, mutta hänelle työaika on tärkeämpi.
= “For me, salary is important, but for him/her working hours are more important.”

Why do we have asia here? Can I just say Palkka on minulle tärkeä?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

Palkka on minulle tärkeä.
= “Salary is important to me.”

The version with asia:

Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle.

adds an explicit noun “thing / matter / issue.” That gives a slightly different tone:

Palkka on minulle tärkeä.
- Simple, direct: “Salary is important to me.”
Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle.
- “Salary is an important thing/issue for me.”
- Feels a bit more formal or statement-like, as if you’re listing or weighing factors in life or work.

In English, we often omit “thing/matter” in translation, because
“Salary is an important thing to me” sounds more clumsy than
“Salary is important to me.”

So asia is not required; it just makes the sentence explicitly about an “issue” or “matter.”

Why is it tärkeä and not tärkeää in this sentence?

In Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle, tärkeä agrees with the noun asia:

tärkeä asia = “an important thing / matter”
- Both tärkeä and asia are nominative singular.

The pattern is:

subject (nominative) + on + predicative noun phrase (also nominative)

Here the predicative (what the subject “is”) is tärkeä asia, so its head noun asia is nominative, and the adjective tärkeä must also be nominative.

You would use tärkeää (partitive) in a slightly different structure:

Palkka on minulle tärkeää.
(literally “Salary is (something) important to me.”)

Here, the predicative is just the adjective in partitive singular. This is a common pattern with general or abstract qualities:

Terveys on tärkeää. = “Health is important.”
Rehellisyys on minulle tärkeää. = “Honesty is important to me.”

So:

With a noun like asia as a predicative: nominative → tärkeä asia
With only an adjective as the predicative: nominative or partitive is possible, but tärkeää is very common for these general statements.

Is Palkka on minulle tärkeää the same as Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle?

They are very close in meaning, but not identical in nuance.

Palkka on minulle tärkeää.
- More abstract/general: “Salary is important to me.”
- Feels like a direct statement about your values or priorities.
Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle.
- Literally: “Salary is an important matter/thing to me.”
- Slightly more formal or explicit, as if you are classifying salary as one important “issue” among others.

In practice, both can usually be translated simply as “Salary is important to me” and used in similar situations. The difference is subtle and mostly about style and emphasis.

Do I need to translate asia in English, or can I just say “Salary is important to me”?

You don’t have to translate asia explicitly.

Natural English: “Salary is important to me.”
More literal: “Salary is an important thing/matter to me.”

In many cases, English drops generic words like “thing” or “matter” where Finnish might use asia:

Tämä on tärkeä asia.
- Natural: “This is important.”
- Literal: “This is an important thing/matter.”

So for most learning and translation purposes, treat:

Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle. ≈ “Salary is important to me.”

and consider asia as a stylistic extra that you usually don’t echo in English.

How would I say “My salary is important to me” instead of just “Salary is important to me”?

You would add a possessor for palkka:

More formal/standard:

Minun palkkani on tärkeä asia minulle.
- minun palkkani = “my salary” (possessive suffix -ni on palkka)

More typical everyday / spoken style:

Mun palkka on mulle tärkeä asia.
- mun is colloquial for minun
- mulle is colloquial for minulle
- Often the possessive suffix (-ni) is dropped in spoken Finnish.

Shorter versions without asia are also fine:

Minun palkkani on minulle tärkeä.
Mun palkka on mulle tärkeä.

All of these mean essentially “My salary is important to me.”

Is this sentence formal, neutral, or informal? How might it look in casual spoken Finnish?

Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle. is neutral and perfectly suitable for:

writing (emails, essays, job applications)
spoken semi-formal contexts (interviews, discussions)

In casual spoken Finnish, people often:

Shorten minulle → mulle
Often drop asia, or replace it with juttu (“thing, story”)
Simplify adjective endings in pronunciation

Examples of more colloquial variants:

Palkka on mulle tärkeä.
Palkka on mulle tärkee juttu. (note spoken form tärkee)

These are what you might hear in everyday conversation, while the original Palkka on tärkeä asia minulle is a bit more careful and textbook-like but still very natural.