Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

I follow this course carefully.

Breakdown of Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

• minä: I
• tämä: this
• kurssi: the course
• tarkasti: carefully
• seurata: to follow

Questions & Answers about Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

What does seuraan mean, and what is its dictionary form?

Seuraan is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb seurata.

• seurata = to follow (in many senses: follow a person, follow a course, follow the news, etc.)
• Stem: seura-
• Present tense:
  • minä seuraan – I follow / I am following
  • sinä seuraat – you follow
  • hän seuraa – he/she follows
  • me seuraamme – we follow
  • te seuraatte – you (pl/formal) follow
  • he seuraavat – they follow

So seuraan itself expresses “I follow” even without minä.

Why is Minä used when the ending -n on seuraan already shows “I”?

In Finnish, the personal ending -n in seuraan already tells you the subject is I, so Minä is not grammatically necessary.

• Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.
• Seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

Both are correct and mean the same in basic content.

Why include “Minä”?

• To add emphasis to I:
  • Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti (but maybe others don’t).
• In very simple learner-friendly or written sentences, pronouns are often kept for clarity.
• In natural speech and writing, they are often omitted when obvious.

What case is tätä, and why isn’t it just tämä?

Tätä is the partitive singular of the demonstrative pronoun tämä (this).

Declension (singular):

• nominative: tämä – this
• genitive: tämän – of this
• partitive: tätä – this (as an incomplete/ongoing object, among other uses)

In the phrase:

• tätä kurssia = this course (in the partitive)

Both tätä and kurssia are in the partitive to match the object function in the sentence. You cannot say “tämä kurssia”; the pronoun and the noun must agree in case:

• tätä kurssia (correct)
• tämä kurssia (incorrect)

Why is it kurssia and not kurssi or kurssin?

Kurssia is the partitive singular of kurssi (course).

Object case in Finnish often depends on aspect and verb type. With seurata (to follow), the object is typically in the partitive because the action is:

• ongoing / unbounded
• not presented as a completed whole

So:

• Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.
  = I follow / am following this course closely (ongoing process, not “finished”).

If you changed it to genitive kurssin, it would sound like you’re talking about the course as a whole completed thing in a result-like sense, which doesn’t fit well with seurata in ordinary usage. That’s why native speakers normally say seurata + partitive:

• seurata uutisia – to follow the news
• seurata tilannetta – to follow the situation
• seurata kurssia – to follow a course

Could I say “Minä seuraan tämän kurssin tarkasti” instead? What would that mean?

Grammatically it’s possible, but it sounds odd or at least unusual in normal Finnish.

• tämän kurssin = genitive singular (“this course” as a total/whole object)

With many verbs, genitive object marks that the action affects the object as a whole (completed, total). But:

• seurata normally takes a partitive object, focusing on the ongoing nature of following.
• seurata tämän kurssin feels like “follow this course completely from beginning to end” and is not a standard way to express what people usually mean.

Natural Finnish for the intended meaning is:

• Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

Is it okay to drop Minä and say just “Seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti”?

Yes, that’s completely natural and often more typical:

• Seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

The personal ending -n on seuraan already marks “I”. Leaving out Minä is normal when the subject is obvious from context.

Use of Minä adds emphasis to the subject:

• Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti (implied contrast: maybe others don’t).

Can I change the word order, for example “Tätä kurssia seuraan tarkasti”? Does the meaning change?

You can change the word order, and the basic meaning stays the same, but the focus changes.

Some options:

1. Seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.
   – Neutral; focuses on the action “I follow this course carefully.”

2. Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.
   – Emphasizes I as the subject.

3. Tätä kurssia seuraan tarkasti.
   – Brings this course into focus, often implying contrast:

   • “This course I follow carefully (maybe not others).”

Word order in Finnish is relatively flexible, but fronting an element (putting it first) usually adds emphasis or contrast to that element.

What is tarkasti, and how is it formed?

Tarkasti is an adverb meaning carefully, closely, accurately.

It’s formed from the adjective tarkka (careful, exact, precise):

• tarkka (adjective) → tarkasti (adverb)

This is a very common pattern in Finnish:

• hyvä → hyvin (well)
• nopea → nopeasti (quickly)
• rauhallinen → rauhallisesti (calmly)
• tarkka → tarkasti (carefully)

In the sentence:

• seuraan tarkasti = I follow carefully / I follow closely.

What’s the difference between tarkasti, tarkkaan, and tarkoin?

All three relate to being careful/precise, but they differ slightly in usage and nuance.

• tarkasti

  • The most neutral and common adverb for “carefully, precisely, closely.”
  • Works very well here:
    • Seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.

• tarkkaan

  • Often used in fixed expressions and can feel slightly more “to the exact point / thoroughly”:
    • Muistan sen tarkkaan. – I remember it exactly.
  • With seurata, tarkasti is more usual than tarkkaan.

• tarkoin

  • Somewhat more literary or formal; also means carefully, thoroughly:
    • Hän harkitsi asiaa tarkoin. – He/she considered the matter carefully.
  • Less common in everyday speech.

In your sentence, tarkasti is the most natural choice.

Does “Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti” mean “I follow this course” or “I am following this course”?

It can mean both. Finnish doesn’t have a separate continuous tense like English.

• Minä seuraan tätä kurssia tarkasti.
  can be translated as:
  • I follow this course carefully. (habitual/general)
  • I am following this course carefully. (right now / at this time)

The correct English translation depends on the context, but the Finnish present tense covers both simple and continuous meanings.

Is “seurata kurssia” the normal way to say “take a course” in Finnish?

Seurata kurssia literally means “to follow a course”, often emphasizing that you are actively monitoring or following its content.

For “taking” or “attending” a course, Finns also frequently say:

• käydä kurssia – to be taking / attending a course
  
  • Käyn tätä kurssia. – I’m taking this course.
• osallistua kurssille / kurssiin – to participate in a course
• olla kurssilla – to be on/at a course

seurata kurssia is perfectly correct, but it can have a slightly more “I’m closely following what happens in this course” nuance than just “I’m enrolled in it.”

Why are both words tätä and kurssia in the partitive? Could I mix cases like “tätä kurssi”?

In Finnish, words inside a noun phrase must agree in case.

The phrase tätä kurssia is one noun phrase:

• tätä – “this” in partitive singular
• kurssia – “course” in partitive singular

Since the object is in the partitive, both the demonstrative (tämä) and the noun (kurssi) must be in the partitive form:

• tätä kurssia – this course (as partitive object)

You cannot mix cases like:

• tätä kurssi (wrong)
• tämä kurssia (wrong)

Correct combinations:

• nominative: tämä kurssi
• genitive: tämän kurssin
• partitive: tätä kurssia