Learn Hardcore Finnish: Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin. - I often think about how I could learn Finnish faster.

miettiä = to think about something, to ponder, reflect, consider
- More focused, deliberate thinking.
- Often used when you are trying to solve a problem or reflect deeply.
- Example: Mietin ongelmaa. – I’m thinking about the problem.
ajatella = to think (in general), to have something in mind, to have an opinion
- Broader, more general “to think / to have thoughts”.
- Example: Ajattelen usein Suomea. – I often think of Finland.

In Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin, mietin suggests you actively ponder/consider how to learn Finnish faster, not just that the thought briefly crosses your mind.

Why is there a comma before miten in Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin?

The comma is there because miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin is a subordinate clause (an indirect question) that depends on the main clause Mietin usein.

Main clause: Mietin usein. – I often think.
Subordinate clause (indirect question): miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin – how I could learn Finnish faster

In Finnish, you normally put a comma before a subordinate clause, even when in English you often wouldn’t write a comma:

Mietin, mitä teen huomenna. – I’m thinking (about) what I’ll do tomorrow.
Tiedän, että olet oikeassa. – I know that you are right.

So the comma before miten is just following the standard rule: main clause, comma, subordinate clause.

What does miten mean here, and is it different from kuinka?

miten means “how”. In this sentence, it introduces an indirect question:

miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin = how I could learn Finnish faster

miten and kuinka are very close in meaning when they mean “how”, and both are correct here:

Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.
Mietin usein, kuinka voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.

The difference:

miten is slightly more common and neutral in everyday speech.
kuinka can sound a bit more formal, literary, or rhetorical in some contexts, but is still quite normal.

Functionally, you can treat miten = how in this sentence.

Why is it voisin (conditional) and not voin in this sentence?

voisin is the conditional form of voida (“can, be able to”), so it means “I could” rather than “I can”.

voin = I can / am able to
- Voin oppia suomea. – I can learn Finnish. (simple ability)
voisin = I could / I might be able to / I would be able to
- Voisin oppia suomea nopeammin. – I could learn Finnish faster (if I found a way / under the right conditions).

In Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin, the speaker is wondering about possible ways or conditions that would allow them to learn faster. This “potential/imagined” feeling is naturally expressed with the conditional voisin.

If you used voin (miten voin oppia…), it would sound more like asking about practical instructions: “How can I (in practice) learn Finnish faster?”—still correct, but slightly different nuance.

Why is oppia in the basic infinitive form after voisin?

oppia is the first infinitive (dictionary form), meaning “to learn”.

In Finnish, after voida (“can, to be able to”) and many other modal or auxiliary-like verbs (haluta, osata, joutua, päättää…), you typically use the first infinitive of the following verb:

voin oppia – I can learn
voisin oppia – I could learn
haluan oppia – I want to learn
yritän oppia – I try to learn

So:

voisin (I could) + oppia (learn) → voisin oppia = I could learn

There is no special extra marking (“to”) as in English; Finnish just puts the next verb in its infinitive form.

Why is it suomea and not suomi or suomen?

suomea is the partitive singular of suomi (“Finnish (language)”).

suomi = nominative (basic form)
suomea = partitive
suomen = genitive

In this sentence, suomea is the object of the verb oppia (“to learn”). Many verbs of learning, studying, speaking, knowing (a language) commonly take the partitive, especially when the action is ongoing / incomplete / about “some amount” of the thing:

Opettelen suomea. – I’m learning (some) Finnish.
Opin suomea joka päivä. – I learn Finnish every day.

Using the partitive suomea suggests you’re learning some Finnish / Finnish in general, not “the whole language as a complete object” in one go.

Why not the other forms?

oppia suomi (nominative) – sounds odd; languages as objects of “learn/study” almost always use partitive in this sense.
oppia suomen (genitive) – might appear in some specific structures, but not in this basic “learn Finnish” meaning.

So oppia suomea is the natural way to say “to learn Finnish” in this context.

How is nopeammin formed, and why not nopeammpi or nopeasti?

nopeammin is a comparative adverb, meaning “more quickly / faster”.

The base adjective is nopea = quick, fast. From that:

Adjective:
- nopea – quick/fast
- nopeampi – quicker/faster (comparative adjective)
Adverb:
- nopeasti – quickly/fast (adverb)
- nopeammin – more quickly/faster (comparative adverb)

In the sentence:

oppia suomea nopeammin = to learn Finnish more quickly / faster

You need an adverb here because it modifies the verb “oppia” (to learn), not a noun.

nopeasti = quickly
nopeammin = more quickly

nopeammpi would be wrong here, because -mpi is the comparative adjective ending, which is used for things like:

nopeampi auto – a faster car

But here we’re describing how you learn (an adverb), not what is fast. Hence nopeammin, not nopeammpi.

Could I say Minä mietin usein instead of just Mietin usein?

Yes. Both are correct:

Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.
Minä mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.

In Finnish, personal endings on the verb already show the subject, so the pronoun is usually dropped unless you want to:

emphasize the subject:
- Minä mietin usein… – I (as opposed to someone else) often think…
add a slight stylistic or spoken emphasis.

In neutral, everyday Finnish, you often see or hear the shorter version without the pronoun: Mietin usein…

What tense and person is mietin, and how is miettiä conjugated?

mietin is:

present tense
1st person singular (“I”)
from the verb miettiä (“to think (about), to ponder, to consider”)

Basic present tense conjugation of miettiä:

minä mietin – I think / I am thinking
sinä mietit – you think
hän miettii – he/she thinks
me mietimme – we think
te mietitte – you (pl.) think
he miettivät – they think

So Mietin usein literally means “I (habitually) think/ponder often”, which matches the English I often think…

How flexible is the word order? Can I move words around in miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin?

Finnish word order is relatively flexible, especially inside clauses, but changes in order can add small emphasis differences. The given order is the most natural and neutral:

miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin

Some other possibilities and their feel:

miten voisin oppia nopeammin suomea
- Still understandable; mild emphasis shift towards nopeammin and suomea as separate pieces of information.
miten suomea voisin oppia nopeammin
- Puts slight emphasis on suomea (“Finnish (specifically) – how could I learn Finnish faster?”).
miten voisin suomea oppia nopeammin
- Grammatically possible but sounds clumsy or poetic; not typical everyday word order.

The original:

Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.

is the most natural, fluent version and a good model to copy.

Could I say Mietin usein suomen oppimista instead of using the miten-clause?

You can say it, but the meaning shifts slightly:

Mietin usein, miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin.
- I often think about *how I could learn Finnish faster.*
- Focus on methods / ways / possibilities.
Mietin usein suomen oppimista.
- Literally: I often think about *the learning of Finnish.*
- More general: you are thinking about the idea or topic of learning Finnish, not specifically “how to learn it faster”.

So suomen oppimista (partitive of the noun oppiminen) turns it into a noun phrase (“the learning of Finnish”), while the miten-clause is a full indirect question about methods.

Both are correct Finnish; they just highlight different aspects.

What’s the difference between oppia and opiskella for “to learn / to study Finnish”?

Both can appear with suomea, but they have different nuances:

oppia suomea – to learn Finnish
- Focus on the result: gaining knowledge/skills.
- Opin paljon suomea kurssilla. – I learned a lot of Finnish on the course.
opiskella suomea – to study Finnish
- Focus on the activity/process: attending classes, doing exercises, etc.
- Opiskelen suomea yliopistossa. – I study Finnish at university.

In the original sentence:

miten voisin oppia suomea nopeammin – how I could learn Finnish faster

Here oppia is natural, because the goal is the result (learning faster, improving skills), not just doing more study activity. You could say miten voisin opiskella suomea tehokkaammin (how I could study Finnish more efficiently), which shifts the focus to the study process instead.