Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

When I am reading a poem, I learn new words slowly.

Breakdown of Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

• uusi: new
• lukea: to read
• hitaasti: slowly
• oppia: to learn
• sana: the word
• runo: the poem

Questions & Answers about Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

What exactly does lukiessani mean, and how is it formed?

Lukiessani means roughly “while I am reading / when I read”.

Morphologically it is:

• luke- – verb stem of lukea (to read)
• -essa – the second infinitive inessive ending (lukiessa = “while reading”)
• -ni – 1st person singular possessive suffix, referring to the subject “I”

So:

• lukea → stem luke- / luki-
• lukiessa = “while reading”
• lukiessani = “while I am reading / while reading (I)”

This structure is called an infinitive construction, and in English we usually translate it with “while …ing” or “when I …”.

Why is there no minä (“I”) in the sentence?

Finnish often drops personal pronouns because person and number are:

1. In the verb ending:

   • opin already shows that the subject is “I” (1st person singular of oppia).

2. In the possessive suffix:

   • lukiessaNI has -ni, which also tells you the subject is “I”.

Since “I” is encoded twice (in opin and -ni), adding minä is not necessary. You could say:

• Minä lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

…but this sounds heavy and unnatural in normal speech, because the person is already completely clear from the endings.

What is the difference between lukiessani and kun luen?

Both can often be translated as “when I read / while I read”, but they are different structures and carry slightly different flavors.

• lukiessani runoa opin…

  • Uses the second infinitive (inessive).
  • Feels a bit more compact and formal / written.
  • Emphasizes the ongoing activity: “in the process of reading the poem, I (gradually) learn…”

• Kun luen runoa, opin…

  • Uses a normal finite clause with kun (“when”).
  • Feels slightly more neutral / everyday.
  • More directly “When(ever) I read the poem, I learn…”

In most everyday contexts they are interchangeable, but:

• lukiessani fits especially well when you want to emphasize simultaneity (“while doing X, Y happens”).
• kun luen is what learners usually learn first and is very common in speech.

Why is it runoa and not runo or runon?

Runoa is the partitive singular of runo (“poem”).

• runo = nominative (dictionary form)
• runoa = partitive singular
• runon = genitive singular

Here runoa is the object of the verb “to read” hidden inside lukiessani:

• lukiessani runoa ≈ “while (I am) reading (some) poem”

Finnish uses the partitive object when:

1. The action is seen as ongoing / incomplete, or
2. You’re talking about an undefined amount of something.

By using runoa, the sentence presents the poem as something being read (in progress), not necessarily completed, or not a specific, fully-bounded event of “reading the whole poem”.

If you said:

• Lukiessani runon opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

that would sound more like “When I (have) read the poem (to completion), I learn new words slowly.” The action feels more bounded / complete.

Why are uusia sanoja both in the partitive?

Both uusia and sanoja are partitive plural:

• uusi → uusia (partitive plural)
• sana → sanoja (partitive plural)

Reasons:

1. Agreement:
   The adjective uusia must agree with the noun sanoja in:

   • number (plural)
   • case (partitive)

2. Meaning / aspect:
   The verb oppia (“to learn”) often takes a partitive object when you’re learning:

   • an unspecified quantity, or
   • something in a gradual, ongoing way.

So uusia sanoja here implies:

• “some new words” or “new words (in general, not a fixed set)”
• learned gradually / partly, not a clearly bounded, complete set.

If you said, very specifically:

• Opin kaikki uudet sanat. – “I learn all the new words.”

then kaikki uudet sanat is in the total object form (nominative plural), because it’s a clearly delimited set that gets fully learned.

What does hitaasti mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Hitaasti means “slowly”.

It is the adverb derived from the adjective hidas (“slow”):

• hidas (slow) → hitaasti (slowly)

This -sti ending is a regular way to form adverbs from adjectives:

• nopea (fast) → nopeasti (quickly)
• selvä (clear) → selvästi (clearly)
• hiljainen (quiet) → hiljaa (quietly — slightly irregular, but similar idea)

So hitaasti describes how you learn the new words: slowly.

Can the word order be changed? For example, is Opin uusia sanoja hitaasti lukiessani runoa also correct?

Yes, Finnish word order is quite flexible, and your example is grammatically fine:

• Opin uusia sanoja hitaasti lukiessani runoa.

The basic information stays the same, but word order affects emphasis:

• Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.

  • Starts with lukiessani runoa → puts “while reading the poem” in focus.
  • Feels more like you’re setting the scene first.

• Opin uusia sanoja hitaasti lukiessani runoa.

  • Starts with opin → emphasizes “I learn new words slowly”, and then adds when that happens.

All of these are possible, depending on what you want to highlight:

• Hitaasti opin uusia sanoja lukiessani runoa. (emphasizes slowly)
• Uusia sanoja opin hitaasti lukiessani runoa. (emphasizes new words)

Why isn’t there a separate word for “while” in Finnish?

Finnish often expresses the meaning of “while doing X” with a special infinitive form, not with a separate conjunction like English “while”.

Here:

• English: “While (I am) reading the poem, I learn…”
• Finnish: Lukiessani runoa opin…

The “while”-meaning is built into:

• the second infinitive inessive form lukiessa-, and
• the possessive suffix -ni marking who is doing the reading.

So instead of “while I read”, Finnish compresses that into a single verbal form lukiessani.

How would the form lukiessani change for other persons, like “while you read” or “while he/she reads”?

You keep lukiessa- and change the possessive suffix:

• minä (I) → lukiessaNI – “while I read”
• sinä (you, sg.) → lukiessaSI – “while you read”
• hän (he/she) → lukiessaAN – “while he/she reads”
• me (we) → lukiessaMME – “while we read”
• te (you, pl.) → lukiessaNNE – “while you (pl.) read”
• he (they) → lukiessaAN – “while they read” (same suffix as 3rd sg.)

Examples:

• Lukiessasi runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.
  “While you read the poem, I slowly learn new words.”

• Lukiessaan runoa hän oppii uusia sanoja hitaasti.
  “While he/she reads the poem, he/she learns new words slowly.”

Is opin present or past tense here?

Opin can be either present or past of oppia, depending on context:

• Present:
  
  • (minä) opin = “I learn / I am learning”
• Past (imperfect):
  
  • (minä) opin = “I learned”

The forms look the same; you understand the tense from context and surrounding sentences.

In isolation, Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti. can be interpreted as:

• Present: “While I read the poem, I (tend to) learn new words slowly.”
• Past: “While I was reading the poem, I learned new words slowly.”

If you want to be clearly past, you might add a time adverb:

• Eilen lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.
  “Yesterday, while reading the poem, I learned new words slowly.”

Could I say Lukiessani runon opin uusia sanoja hitaasti instead of runoa? What changes?

Yes, it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance changes.

• Lukiessani runoa…

  • runoa = partitive
  • Implies reading some / an unspecified amount of the poem, or the action as ongoing or not viewed as a complete unit.

• Lukiessani runon…

  • runon = genitive (here a total object)
  • Implies reading the whole poem (a complete, bounded event).

So:

• Lukiessani runoa opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.
  → “While (I am) reading a poem / some of the poem, I slowly learn new words.”

• Lukiessani runon opin uusia sanoja hitaasti.
  → “When I read the whole poem, I slowly learn new words.” (focus on completing the poem)

Both are correct; you choose based on whether you’re talking about the process of reading or the completion of a specific poem.