Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.

Many of them study Finnish online.

Breakdown of Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.

• suomi: Finnish
• opiskella: to study
• verkossa: online
• moni: many
• heistä: them

Questions & Answers about Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.

What does heistä literally mean, and what case is it in?

Heistä is the elative case form of he (they).

• he = they
• heistä = from them / of them / among them

In this sentence it doesn’t literally mean physical movement “from them”, but rather “of them / among them”:

• Heistä moni ≈ “Many of them” / “Among them, many (people) …”

Finnish regularly uses the elative (-sta / -stä) to express “out of a group” or “from among a group”.

Why is it heistä moni and not something like moni heistä or heitä moni?

All of these are possible forms, but they are not equally common or correct:

• Heistä moni opiskelee…
  Very natural and common. Focus is a bit on the group heistä (“of them, many study…”).

• Moni heistä opiskelee…
  Also grammatically fine. Now the focus shifts more toward moni (“many of them study…”). In everyday language, both word orders are used.

• Heitä moni…
  This is not correct here. Heitä is partitive (“some of them, them (as an object)”), but with moni in this kind of “many of them” structure, Finnish uses heistä (elative), not heitä.

So, to say “many of them”, you basically choose between:

• heistä moni
• moni heistä

Both mean the same, with a slight difference in emphasis or information flow.

Why is moni in the singular if it means “many (people)”?

Moni is grammatically singular, even though semantically it refers to several people. It works similarly to English “many a person”:

• moni = many a (one), many (a person)
• grammatical number: singular
• so the verb is also singular: moni opiskelee (“many [person] studies”)

Because moni is the grammatical subject and is singular, the verb must be 3rd person singular (opiskelee), not plural.

Later you can also use the plural form monet:

• Monet opiskelevat suomea verkossa.
  “Many (people) study Finnish online.”
  Here monet is plural, so the verb opiskelevat is also plural.

In your sentence, moni + singular verb is completely normal Finnish.

Why is the verb opiskelee (3rd person singular) and not opiskelevat (3rd person plural)?

Because the grammatical subject is moni, which is singular:

• moni opiskelee = “many (a person) studies”
• monet opiskelevat = “many (people) study”

So:

• Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.
  Subject: moni (singular) → opiskelee (singular)

If you used monet, you would change the verb:

• Monet heistä opiskelevat suomea verkossa.
  Subject: monet (plural) → opiskelevat (plural)

What is the difference between moni and monet in meaning?

Both relate to “many”, but:

• moni

  • form: singular
  • feel: often a bit more literary or neutral, “many a”, “plenty of”
  • verb: singular
  • example: Moni opiskelee suomea.

• monet

  • form: plural
  • feel: more clearly counting a number of individuals, “many (people)”
  • verb: plural
  • example: Monet opiskelevat suomea.

With heistä:

• Heistä moni opiskelee… = Many of them (each individually) studies…
• Monet heistä opiskelevat… = Many of them study…

In everyday speech they are often interchangeable; monet + plural verb might sound slightly more concrete, moni + singular verb a bit more stylistic.

Why is it suomea and not suomi after opiskelee?

Suomea is the partitive case of suomi (Finnish language):

• suomi (nominative)
• suomea (partitive)

Here are the main reasons suomea (partitive) is used:

1. “Studying a language” typically takes partitive
   With verbs like opiskella (to study), oppia (to learn), puhua (to speak), languages are usually objects in partitive, because you are not dealing with a clear, completed whole:

   • Opiskelen suomea. – I study Finnish.
   • Opin suomea. – I’m learning Finnish.

2. Ongoing / incomplete action
   Partitive often marks an ongoing or not-completed activity. When you study a language, you usually don’t “finish” the language as a whole, so the object stays in partitive.

Using suomi (nominative) as an object here (opiskelee suomi) would be ungrammatical.

What does verkossa literally mean, and why this form?

Verkossa is the inessive case (-ssa) of verkko:

• verkko = net / web (originally a physical net)
• verkossa = in the net / in the web → “online”

So literally: suomea verkossa = “Finnish in the net”, i.e. “Finnish online”.

Common synonyms:

• netissä (from netti, “net, internet”)
  
  • opiskelee suomea netissä – also “studies Finnish online”
• verkon kautta, netin kautta – “via the internet”

All of these are natural; verkossa and netissä are the most typical everyday choices.

Can I change the word order? For example, is Moni heistä opiskelee suomea verkossa OK, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, Moni heistä opiskelee suomea verkossa is perfectly correct. The basic meaning is the same: “Many of them study Finnish online.”

Differences are mostly about emphasis:

• Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.
  Slight emphasis on heistä (“Of them, many study Finnish online.”). This might appear when we’re already talking about that group.

• Moni heistä opiskelee suomea verkossa.
  Slight emphasis on moni (“Many of them study Finnish online.”).

In normal conversation, both sound natural, and the difference is subtle.

Could I say just Moni opiskelee suomea verkossa without heistä?

Yes, you can, but the meaning changes:

• Moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.
  = “Many (people) study Finnish online.”
  → talking about people in general; no specific group is mentioned.

• Heistä moni opiskelee suomea verkossa.
  = “Many of them study Finnish online.”
  → referring to a specific group already known from context (“they”).

So heistä is what ties the “many” to a particular group of people already introduced earlier.

Why is it heistä (elative) and not heiltä (ablative) or heitä (partitive)?

In this “subset of a group” construction, Finnish uses the elative (-sta/-stä):

• heistä moni = “many (of them)”
• meistä osa = “some of us”
• ystävistämme muutama = “a few of our friends”

Compare forms:

• heistä = from them / of them (elative) → used for “of them, many…”
• heiltä = from them (ablative; movement from a person: “I got it from them”)
• heitä = them (partitive; often object or “some of them” in other structures)

So in a phrase like “many of them / some of them / a few of them”, you almost always see heistä, not heiltä or heitä.

Could I say Monet heistä opiskelevat suomea verkossa instead? How does that differ?

Yes, that’s also correct:

• Monet heistä opiskelevat suomea verkossa.
  = “Many of them study Finnish online.”

Differences vs. the original sentence:

• Monet is plural → the verb becomes opiskelevat (plural).
• The tone can feel slightly more concrete, like you’re clearly thinking of them as several distinct individuals.

So you have:

• Heistä moni opiskelee… (moni + singular verb)
• Monet heistä opiskelevat… (monet + plural verb)

Both are good Finnish; choice is often stylistic.

Is opiskelee different from lukee when talking about studying?

Yes, there’s a nuance:

• opiskella

  • to study (as a student, more formal/academic)
  • Opiskelen suomea. – I study Finnish (systematically, as a course, at school, etc.)

• lukea

  • to read; also “to study (for an exam)” especially in school contexts
  • Luen suomea.
    Can mean “I’m reading Finnish (texts)” or “I’m studying Finnish (as a subject)”, depending on context and region.

In your sentence, opiskelee suomea verkossa clearly implies “studies Finnish online” in a more systematic or course-like way.