Learn Hardcore Finnish: Olin pettynyt itseeni, koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi ennen peliä. - I was disappointed in myself because I had not practised enough before the game.

olin – I was (past of olla, “to be”)
pettynyt – disappointed (past participle of pettyä, “to become disappointed”, used here as an adjective)
itseeni – in myself

So it means “I was disappointed in myself.”

You need “itseeni” because Finnish normally expresses “disappointed in X” as:

olla pettynyt + illative case (the “into / in” case)

Examples:

olen pettynyt sinuun – I am disappointed in you
olin pettynyt itseeni – I was disappointed in myself

Itseeni is the reflexive form “myself” in the illative case (the form used after pettynyt).

What case is “itseeni”, and how is it formed?

“Itseeni” is in the illative case (the “into / in” case).

Base word: itse – “self”
First-person possessive: itseni – “myself”
Illative of itseni: itseeni

The illative often looks like -Vn / -seen / -eeseen / -een etc. Here:

itse + -eni (my) → itseni
illative of itse is itse-en → itseeni

Functionally, you can just remember:

itseeni = into myself / in myself
used after “pettynyt”: pettynyt itseensä / itseeni / itseesi…

Why is it “itseeni” and not “minuun” for “myself”?

Finnish distinguishes between:

minuun – into me / in me (non‑reflexive; talking about the person “me”)
itseeni – into myself / in myself (reflexive; emphasizes the self)

With emotions like being disappointed in oneself, Finnish very often uses the reflexive:

olin pettynyt minuun – “I was disappointed in me (as a person)” – grammatically possible but sounds unusual/odd in this context.
olin pettynyt itseeni – “I was disappointed in myself” – natural and idiomatic.

So itseeni is the standard, natural way to express “in myself” here.

Why is the verb “pettynyt” used with “olin” instead of just saying “pettyin”?

You have two related forms:

pettyä (verb) – to become disappointed
- pettyin – “I became disappointed / I got disappointed.”
pettynyt (past participle) used as an adjective
- olin pettynyt – “I was disappointed” (describes a state)

In the sentence:

Olin pettynyt itseeni… – “I was disappointed in myself…”

the focus is on the ongoing state of being disappointed, not on the moment when you became disappointed.

If you said:

Pettyin itseeni…

that would emphasize the moment of becoming disappointed. It’s possible, but “olin pettynyt itseeni” sounds more natural for describing your feelings in a narrative or reflection.

What tense is “olin pettynyt”, and how is it formed?

“Olin pettynyt” is past tense (imperfect) of “to be” + an adjective:

olin – past of olla: “I was”
pettynyt – adjective “disappointed”

Pattern:

olla (in past) + adjective
olin väsynyt – I was tired
olin iloinen – I was happy
olin pettynyt – I was disappointed

So it’s just the simple past: I was disappointed.

What tense is “en ollut harjoitellut”, and what does its structure mean?

“En ollut harjoitellut” is pluperfect negative (past perfect negative).

Breakdown:

en – I do not / did not (1st person singular negative verb)
ollut – past form of olla used in the perfect/pluperfect (here: “have been”, but in Finnish you don’t usually translate it separately)
harjoitellut – past active participle of harjoitella (“to practice”)

Together:

en ollut harjoitellut = “I had not practiced”

Structure in general:

olin harjoitellut – I had practiced
en ollut harjoitellut – I had not practiced

So the sentence uses the pluperfect to show that this lack of practice happened before another past event (the game, and your disappointment).

Why do we use the pluperfect “en ollut harjoitellut” instead of a simpler past like “en harjoitellut”?

The pluperfect in Finnish (olin tehnyt / en ollut tehnyt) is used to show that something happened before another past event.

In the sentence:

Olin pettynyt itseeni, koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi ennen peliä.

The time order is:

Before the game: you did not practice enough
At/after the game: you were disappointed in yourself

Pluperfect “en ollut harjoitellut” makes it clear that “not practicing enough” is an earlier past action relative to “being disappointed”.

If you used “en harjoitellut”, it could sound more like a simple description (“I didn’t practice enough before the game”), but the pluperfect is more precise and natural when contrasting two past times.

What is “harjoitellut” exactly? Is it a past tense form?

“Harjoitellut” is the past active participle of the verb harjoitella (“to practice”).

It’s not a finite past tense on its own. It is used together with olla to form:

olen harjoitellut – I have practiced (perfect)
olin harjoitellut – I had practiced (pluperfect)
en ollut harjoitellut – I had not practiced

So in “en ollut harjoitellut”, harjoitellut is the participle that combines with olin / ollut to form the pluperfect.

What does “tarpeeksi” mean, and can it change form?

“Tarpeeksi” means “enough”.

en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi – I had not practiced enough.

It’s used mostly like an adverb and typically does not change form in everyday language. You don’t add case endings to it (you don’t say tarpeekseen here, for example).

Compare:

syön tarpeeksi – I eat enough
olin harjoitellut tarpeeksi – I had practiced enough

So just remember: tarpeeksi = enough, and it mostly stays as it is.

Why is it “ennen peliä” and not “ennen peli” or “ennen pelin”?

“Ennen” (“before”) is a preposition that normally takes the partitive case:

ennen + partitive

peli (basic form)
peliä (partitive singular)

So:

ennen peliä – before the game
ennen ruokaa – before (the) food / before eating
ennen kesää – before summer

“Ennen pelin” would usually be parsed as “before the game’s …” (genitive), and would sound wrong or incomplete here. The standard structure for time is ennen + partitive.

Why is “peliä” in the partitive? Does it mean something like “some game”?

Here the partitive comes from the preposition “ennen”, not from a “some/unfinished” meaning.

Many prepositions/postpositions in Finnish always require a certain case:

ennen
- partitive → ennen peliä – before the game
jälkeen
- genitive → pelin jälkeen – after the game

So:

ennen peliä – before the game
pelin jälkeen – after the game

The partitive does not here suggest “some game” or “part of a game”; it’s just required by the grammar of ennen.

Can the word order be changed, for example starting with “Koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi…”?

Yes, Finnish word order is flexible. You can say:

Olin pettynyt itseeni, koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi ennen peliä.
Koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi ennen peliä, olin pettynyt itseeni.

Both are correct and natural.

The choice affects emphasis:

Starting with “Olin pettynyt itseeni” puts the feeling first.
Starting with “Koska en ollut harjoitellut tarpeeksi…” highlights the reason first.

But grammatically, both are fine.

Could I say “Olin pettynyt ennen peliä” to mean “I was disappointed in myself before the game”?

“Olin pettynyt ennen peliä” literally means:

“I was disappointed before the game.”

It does not explicitly say in whom or in what you were disappointed. It just states that you were disappointed at that time.

To keep the meaning “disappointed in myself” you really need “itseeni”:

Olin pettynyt itseeni ennen peliä. – I was disappointed in myself before the game.

So if you omit itseeni, you change the meaning to “I was (generally) disappointed” rather than “disappointed in myself.”