Breakdown of Tänään löysin uuden videon, jossa suomea opetetaan hitaasti ja selkeästi.
Questions & Answers about Tänään löysin uuden videon, jossa suomea opetetaan hitaasti ja selkeästi.
Uuden videon is the object of the verb löysin (I found), so it needs an object case, not the basic dictionary (nominative) form.
- uusi video = nominative (the form you’d see in a dictionary)
- uuden videon = genitive/accusative singular (used here as a total object)
In Finnish, a completed, whole object of a past-tense action often appears in the genitive/accusative form. You found one complete, specific video, so the object is total:
- Löysin uuden videon. – I (successfully) found a new video (one, complete).
- (Contrast: Löysin videoita. – I found some videos, partitive plural, not a fixed total.)
The adjective uusi has to agree with video in case and number, so it becomes uuden to match videon.
Löysin is:
- verb: löytää – to find
- tense: past tense (imperfect)
- person: 1st person singular (I)
So löysin literally means I found.
Finnish often leaves out the personal pronoun (minä) because the person is already clear from the verb ending -in. So:
- Minä löysin uuden videon.
- Löysin uuden videon.
Both mean I found a new video, and the second version is more natural in everyday Finnish.
Finnish does not have separate words for a/an or the. The context usually shows whether something is new information (a new video) or something already known (the new video).
Uuden videon can be understood as:
- a new video – if you are just introducing it into the conversation
- the new video – if the listener already knows which new video you mean
So the same Finnish phrase can correspond to both English possibilities, depending on context.
Suomea is in the partitive case (singular).
For languages, Finnish very often uses the partitive when talking about teaching, learning, speaking etc.:
- opettaa suomea – to teach Finnish
- opiskella suomea – to study Finnish
- puhua suomea – to speak Finnish
You can think of it like some Finnish – the activity is about an ongoing amount of the language, not a clearly bounded “whole object.” That’s why it’s suomea, not suomi, in this sentence.
Opetetaan is the Finnish impersonal (often called passive).
- dictionary form: opettaa – to teach
- normal 3rd person singular: opettaa – he/she teaches
- impersonal: opetetaan – Finnish is taught / they teach Finnish / one teaches Finnish
Key features:
- No explicit subject (who is teaching is not named).
- It describes an action that people in general do, or that is done by some unspecified person(s).
- Rough English equivalents: is taught, they teach, one teaches.
So suomea opetetaan can be understood as Finnish is taught or they teach Finnish without saying who “they” are.
Jossa is a relative pronoun, meaning roughly in which, and it refers back to uuden videon.
- joka – which / that (relative pronoun)
- jossa = jossa = joka + -ssa (inessive) → in which
So:
- uuden videon, jossa suomea opetetaan…
→ a new video in which Finnish is taught…
If you said missä suomea opetetaan, it would mean where Finnish is taught, but it wouldn’t explicitly connect back to video as a relative clause does. In this structure, jossa is the correct choice because it links the subordinate clause to the noun video.
The comma marks the start of a relative clause that gives extra information about uuden videon.
- Main clause: Tänään löysin uuden videon.
- Relative clause: jossa suomea opetetaan hitaasti ja selkeästi.
In Finnish, you usually put a comma before a joka/jossa/johon… type relative clause, just as in English before which/that in similar contexts:
- I found a new video, in which Finnish is taught slowly and clearly.
So the comma is there because a subordinate clause begins with jossa.
Yes, Finnish word order is fairly flexible, especially inside clauses. For example, you could say:
- jossa hitaasti ja selkeästi opetetaan suomea
- jossa suomea hitaasti ja selkeästi opetetaan
All are grammatically possible. The original:
- jossa suomea opetetaan hitaasti ja selkeästi
is very natural and neutral: what is taught (suomea) appears early, then the verb (opetetaan), then the adverbs (hitaasti ja selkeästi).
Changing the order can shift emphasis, but the basic meaning stays the same.
Hitaasti and selkeästi are adverbs, not adjectives.
- hidas – slow (adjective)
- hitaasti – slowly (adverb)
- selkeä – clear (adjective)
- selkeästi – clearly (adverb)
In Finnish, many adverbs are formed by adding -sti to the adjective stem.
You use adjectives to describe nouns:
- hidas video – a slow video
- selkeä puhe – clear speech
You use adverbs to describe how something is done:
- opetetaan hitaasti ja selkeästi – is taught slowly and clearly.
So -sti here is the typical adverb ending.
You can say hitaasti ja selvästi, and it is grammatically correct.
Nuance:
- selkeästi – clearly in the sense of easy to follow / well structured / not confusing.
- selvästi – clearly in the sense of distinctly, obviously, without ambiguity.
In the context of teaching language, selkeästi is usually more natural, because it suggests that the speech and explanations are clear and easy to understand. Selvästi can sound more like audibly, distinctly, obviously, though in some contexts it overlaps with selkeästi.
Yes, you can say:
- Tänään löysin uuden videon…
- Löysin tänään uuden videon…
Both are correct.
Placing Tänään at the beginning emphasizes today a bit more:
- Tänään löysin… – Today I found…
Placing it after the verb feels slightly more neutral in many contexts:
- Löysin tänään… – I found today…
In normal conversation, both word orders are common and natural.
Videon is the genitive singular form of video, and in this sentence it is used as a total object (often called the accusative form).
In Finnish, the singular total object of a past, completed action usually looks like the genitive:
- genitive: videon – of the video
- total object: Löysin videon. – I found the video / a video.
So the form is genitive, but its function in this sentence is to mark a total object. That’s why grammar books often say that the singular accusative of nouns is “genitive-like” (videon).
- Löysin uuden videon – simple past: I found a new video.
- Olen löytänyt uuden videon – present perfect: I have found a new video.
Löysin focuses on the past event itself.
Olen löytänyt connects the past event to the present situation (the result is relevant now: I have found it, and I still have/know it).
In everyday spoken Finnish, people use löysin very often where English might use I found or I have found. The simple past is more common in speech than the present perfect.
Finnish usually omits personal pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person.
- minä löysin – I found
- löysin – I found (the -in ending already tells us it’s I)
Using minä is not wrong, but it can sound more emphatic or contrasting:
- Minä löysin uuden videon, en sinä. – I found a new video, not you.
In neutral statements, the pronoun is typically dropped, as in this sentence.