Learn Hardcore Finnish: Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi ja aloin heti etsiä töitä. - I myself graduated as a teacher last year and immediately started looking for work.

valmistu- (verb stem “to graduate, to qualify”)
- -in → valmistuin = I graduated / I qualified (1st person singular past)
alka- (verb stem “to start, to begin”)
- -in → aloin = I started (1st person singular past)

So the subject “I” is built into valmistuin and aloin.
You can add minä for emphasis or contrast:

Minä valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi… = I (as opposed to someone else) graduated…

But in neutral Finnish, it’s normal to leave minä out when the verb form already shows the person clearly.

What does itse mean here, and do we really need it?

Itse means roughly “myself” and adds emphasis to minä (even if minä is not said out loud).

Valmistuin viime vuonna opettajaksi…
= I graduated last year as a teacher… (neutral statement)
Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi…
= I myself graduated last year as a teacher… / I personally graduated…

Typical uses:

Contrast:
- Minä valmistuin itse, mutta ystäväni ei valmistunut.
  I myself graduated, but my friend didn’t.
Soft emphasis without strong contrast: just drawing light attention to the speaker’s experience.

Grammatically, itse is not necessary; you can drop it without making the sentence incorrect. It mainly changes the tone, not the basic meaning.

Why is it viime vuonna and not something like viime vuosi?

Vuonna is a case form of vuosi (“year”). Specifically:

vuosi = year (nominative)
vuonna = in the year (essive singular)

The phrase viime vuonna literally means “in (the) last year”, and it’s the standard, fixed way to say “last year” in Finnish.

Compare:

vuonna 2020 = in (the year) 2020
viime vuonna = last year
ensi vuonna = next year

Using viime vuosi on its own would mean “last year” as a subject or object (nominative), e.g.:

Viime vuosi oli vaikea.
Last year was difficult.

But after a verb, when you want to say “I did X last year”, you use viime vuonna.

Why is it opettajaksi and not just opettaja or opettajana?

Opettajaksi is the translative case (ending -ksi), which often means “into / to become / as (a new state)”.

The verb valmistua (to graduate / to qualify) usually takes a translative when you say what you qualified as:

valmistua opettajaksi = to qualify as a teacher
valmistua lääkäriksi = to qualify as a doctor
valmistua insinööriksi = to qualify as an engineer

So:

Valmistuin opettajaksi.
= I qualified as a teacher / I graduated to become a teacher.

Other forms would mean something else:

opettaja (nominative): just “teacher” as a bare noun; doesn’t fit the verb pattern here.
opettajana (essive case, “as a teacher”):
- Työskentelen opettajana. = I work as a teacher.
  (describes an existing state/role, not a change into that role.)

So valmistua + translative (-ksi) expresses a change of status: you become that thing.

What exactly is valmistuin in terms of tense and form?

Valmistuin is:

Verb: valmistua = to graduate, to qualify, to be completed (studies)
Person: 1st person singular (“I”)
Tense: past (simple past / imperfect in Finnish grammar)

Forms:

minä valmistun = I graduate / I qualify (present)
minä valmistuin = I graduated / I qualified (past)

So Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi is a straightforward past tense statement about a completed action in the past.

Why is it aloin heti etsiä and not something like aloin heti etsin or aloin heti etsimään?

Finnish often uses one finite verb + one infinitive:

aloin etsiä = I started to look for / I began looking for

Here:

aloin = past tense of alkaa (to start, to begin), 1st person singular
etsiä = 1st infinitive (“dictionary form”) of to look for, to search

The usual standard pattern is:

alkaa + 1st infinitive
- Aloin etsiä töitä. = I started to look for work.

You may also hear:

alkaa + 3rd infinitive in the illative: etsimään
- Aloin etsimään töitä.

This is common in spoken Finnish and in everyday writing. In many style guides, aloin etsiä is considered a bit more neutral/standard, but aloin etsimään is not wrong in modern usage.

Forms that are incorrect:

✗ aloin etsin — the finite verb form etsin (I search) cannot follow aloin like that.
✗ aloin heti etsii — this is colloquial spoken Finnish; in standard written Finnish it should be etsiä or etsimään.

Why is it töitä and not työtä or työt?

Töitä is the partitive plural of työ (“work, job”).

työ = work / job (nominative singular)
työtä = work (partitive singular)
työt = (the) jobs / (the) works (nominative plural)
töitä = some jobs / some work (partitive plural)

Two main reasons for töitä here:

The verb etsiä usually takes a partitive object
With activities like searching, wanting, needing, etc., Finnish tends to use the partitive because the result is open/indefinite:
- etsiä töitä = to look for (some) work / jobs
- etsiä asuntoa = to look for an apartment
- etsiä tietoa = to look for information
Plural partitive emphasizes “some work / any jobs”
In practice:
- etsiä työtä = look for employment / a job (a bit more abstract or singular)
- etsiä töitä = look for work / some jobs (common formula when job hunting)

Both etsiä työtä and etsiä töitä are grammatically fine, but etsiä töitä is extremely common in everyday language for job hunting.

Could we change the word order around heti? For example: Heti aloin etsiä töitä?

Yes. Finnish word order is fairly flexible, and moving heti (immediately) mainly changes emphasis, not core meaning.

Possible variants:

Aloin heti etsiä töitä.
(neutral: “I immediately started to look for work.”)
Heti aloin etsiä töitä.
(emphasis on how soon you started: “Right away I started to look for work.”)
Aloin etsiä töitä heti.
(focus slightly more on when the searching happened.)

All are grammatical. The original Aloin heti etsiä töitä is a very natural, neutral word order.

Why do we need ja between the two parts, and could we put a comma there instead?

In the sentence:

Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi ja aloin heti etsiä töitä.

ja is the coordinating conjunction “and”, linking two actions with the same (implicit) subject: I.

In standard written Finnish:

You do not replace ja with just a comma. You need ja (or another conjunction) to link the clauses.
A comma before ja is usually not used when both clauses share the same subject (even if it’s only implicit in the verb).

So:

Correct (standard):
Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi ja aloin heti etsiä töitä.
Also possible (two sentences):
Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi. Aloin heti etsiä töitä.

But:

✗ Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajaksi, aloin heti etsiä töitä.
(Just a comma between full clauses is not standard in Finnish.)

Could we say Valmistuin itse viime vuonna opettajana instead of opettajaksi?

No, that would change the meaning.

valmistua opettajaksi (translative -ksi)
= to qualify as a teacher (you become a teacher as a result)
opettajana (essive -na)
typically = as a teacher (describes a role or state, not becoming one)

Examples:

Valmistuin opettajaksi.
I qualified as a teacher. (change of status)
Työskentelen opettajana.
I work as a teacher. (current state/role)

So in your sentence, because the verb is valmistuin and the idea is that your studies led you into the role of teacher, opettajaksi (translative) is the correct and natural form.