Learn Hardcore Finnish: Aamulla selaan viestejä puhelimessa nopeasti ja heitän mainokset heti pois ennen kuin luen uutiskirjeen. - In the morning I quickly scroll through messages on my phone and immediately throw away the ads before I read the newsletter.

Aamulla = in the morning / on the morning
- -lla is the adessive ending, often used with times of day to mean at that time:
  - aamulla – in the morning
  - päivällä – in the daytime
  - illalla – in the evening
  - yöllä – at night
Aamu on its own is just the noun morning and can’t normally stand alone in this position.
Aamuisin also exists and means in the mornings / usually in the mornings, with a strong habitual meaning.
- Aamulla selaan… – This morning / in the morning I (typically) scroll… (neutral, can be habitual from context)
- Aamuisin selaan… – In the mornings I (as a habit) scroll… (emphasises repeated habit more clearly)

So aamulla is correct for “in the morning (time)” and aamuisin would also be possible if you want to stress every morning / on mornings in general.

What is the form and meaning of selaan, and what is the dictionary form?

selaan is:
- 1st person singular
- present tense, indicative
- of the verb selata

So:

selata – to browse, to leaf/scroll through
selaan – I browse / I’m browsing

In modern everyday context with phones and computers, selata very often means to scroll through things (messages, social media, etc.), not necessarily to read every word carefully.

Why is it viestejä (partitive plural) instead of viestit?

Viestejä is the partitive plural, and it signals an indefinite / incomplete amount of messages.

viesti – a (single) message
viestit – the messages (a whole set, “all of them”)
viestejä – some messages, messages in general, not a clearly delimited set

With verbs like selata (“browse through”), you’re not necessarily going through a complete, clearly defined set of things. You’re sampling, skimming, going through an indefinite number of messages.

So:

Selaan viestit. – I go through all the messages (sounds like a complete task).
Selaan viestejä. – I browse (some) messages / messages in general (open‑ended, typical for this context).

That’s why viestejä is more natural here.

Why is it puhelimessa (“in the phone”) in Finnish when English says “on the phone”?

Finnish uses different spatial cases than English prepositions.

puhelin – phone
puhelimessa – inessive case: in the phone / inside the phone (literally)

For devices with screens or inner content, Finnish commonly thinks of the content as being inside the device:

puhelimessa – on/in the phone (apps, messages, etc. are inside)
tietokoneessa – on/in the computer
televisiossa – on TV

So selaan viestejä puhelimessa is literally “I browse messages in the phone”, but it corresponds to English “on my phone”.

Other related forms:

puhelimella (adessive) – with the phone, by phone (means/instrument)
puhelimesta (elative) – from the phone (taking something out of it)

Here, puhelimessa is chosen because the messages are imagined as being inside the phone.

Why is nopeasti used instead of nopea or nopeaa?

Nopeasti is the adverb form and means quickly.

Pattern:

nopea – adjective: fast, quick (describes a noun)
- nopea auto – a fast car
nopeasti – adverb: quickly, fast (describes a verb)
- selaan nopeasti – I browse quickly

Finnish often forms adverbs with -sti from adjectives:

hidas → hitaasti – slow → slowly
selvä → selvästi – clear → clearly
nopea → nopeasti – fast → quickly

So here, because it modifies the action (how you browse), nopeasti is the correct form.

How does heitän mainokset heti pois work? Is heitän pois like a phrasal verb?

Yes, heitän pois functions much like an English phrasal verb throw away.

heittää – to throw
heitän – I throw
pois – away, out

Together:

heitän pois – I throw away

Finnish often uses a verb + particle combination to create a new meaning, similar to English phrasal verbs:

laittaa – to put
- laittaa pois – to put away
ottaa – to take
- ottaa pois – to take away
heittää – to throw
- heittää pois – to throw away

Word order is flexible, so you can say:

Heitän mainokset heti pois.
Heitän heti mainokset pois.
Heitän ne heti pois. (if ne = them)

The meaning stays the same: “I immediately throw the ads away.”

Why is it mainokset (not mainoksia) here?

mainos – an advertisement
mainokset – nominative plural: the ads, advertisements (as a whole set)
mainoksia – partitive plural: (some) ads, an indefinite amount of ads

With objects, Finnish contrasts total vs partial:

Heitän mainokset pois.
- I throw the ads away (the whole set, they are all removed; total object).
Heitän mainoksia pois.
- I throw away some ads (indefinite amount, not necessarily all; partial object).

In this sentence, the idea is that whenever ads appear in the phone, you just throw them away as a clear, complete action, so mainokset (total object) fits very well.

What exactly does heti add? Why heti pois?

Heti means immediately / right away.

So:

heitän mainokset pois – I throw the ads away.
heitän mainokset heti pois – I throw the ads away immediately / right away.

The combination heti pois is common in speech and emphasizes that the action happens without delay:

Lähden heti pois. – I’ll leave at once.
Vie se heti pois. – Take it away immediately.

In your sentence, heti underlines the habit: as soon as you see the ads, you get rid of them.

Why is it ennen kuin with two words, instead of just ennen?

In Finnish, there’s a difference:

ennen
- noun (or nominal phrase)
- ennen aamiaista – before breakfast
- ennen iltaa – before the evening
ennen kuin
- full clause (with a verb)
- ennen kuin luen uutiskirjeen – before I read the newsletter
- ennen kuin lähdet – before you leave

So:

ennen by itself can’t directly introduce a finite verb clause.
When what follows is a full sentence (subject + verb), you use ennen kuin.

Your clause ennen kuin luen uutiskirjeen is a full sentence (I read the newsletter), so ennen kuin is required.

Why is it luen uutiskirjeen (genitive) and not luen uutiskirjettä (partitive)?

Object case signals how complete the action is:

uutiskirje – a newsletter
uutiskirjeen – genitive singular (here functioning as a total object)
uutiskirjettä – partitive singular (partial object)

Compare:

Luen uutiskirjeen.
- I read the newsletter (from beginning to end, or at least as a complete unit).
- Focus: finishing the whole thing = total object (genitive).
Luen uutiskirjettä.
- I’m reading the newsletter / I read some of the newsletter.
- Focus: ongoing, incomplete, or just part of it = partial object (partitive).

In your sentence, ennen kuin luen uutiskirjeen presents reading the newsletter as a complete, bounded action that happens after discarding the ads.

Why does the sentence start with Aamulla? Could I say Selaan viestejä puhelimessa aamulla… instead?

Yes, you can change the word order. Finnish word order is flexible, and what comes first is usually what you topicalise (what you set as the frame of the sentence).

Aamulla selaan viestejä puhelimessa…
- In the morning, I browse messages on my phone…
- Emphasis: time as the frame; this is what happens specifically in the morning.
Selaan viestejä puhelimessa aamulla…
- I browse messages on my phone in the morning…
- More neutral, but aamulla is less prominent.

Starting with Aamulla is very natural Finnish when describing a routine across the day:

Aamulla teen tätä, päivällä teen tuota, illalla rentoudun.

Why is the present tense (selaan, heitän, luen) used to talk about a routine?

In Finnish, the simple present tense is used both for:

Actions happening right now:
- Luen uutiskirjeen. – I’m reading the newsletter (now).
Habits and routines:
- Aamulla selaan viestejä… – In the morning I (usually) browse messages…

English has a separate “present continuous” (I am reading), but Finnish does not. Context tells you whether it’s a habit or a current ongoing action.

Here, Aamulla and the whole sentence clearly describe a morning routine, so the present tense naturally has a habitual meaning: In the mornings, I browse messages on my phone quickly and throw away the ads right away before I read the newsletter.