Learn Hardcore Finnish: Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa. - In my opinion, speaking Finnish is fun.

Sinusta tämä on helppoa. = In your opinion this is easy / You think this is easy.
Meistä se on hyvä idea. = In our opinion it’s a good idea.

So in this sentence, Minusta does not mean “from me” in a physical sense; it’s the normal idiomatic way to say “I think …” / “In my opinion …”.

Is Minusta the same as minun mielestäni (“in my opinion”)? Which should I use?

They are very close in meaning, but not identical in style:

Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.
Minun mielestäni suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.

Both mean roughly “I think speaking Finnish is fun.”

Differences:

Minusta is shorter and very common in speech and writing.
Minun mielestäni is a bit longer and slightly more explicit (“in my opinion”), often used when you want to emphasize that it’s just your viewpoint, or when speaking more formally or carefully.

You can safely use Minusta in most everyday situations.
Example alternatives:

Minusta tämä kirja on hyvä.
Minun mielestäni tämä kirja on hyvä.

Both are natural.

Why is it suomea and not suomi or suomen?

Suomea is the partitive form of suomi (“Finnish” as a language).

With the verb puhua (“to speak”), the language is almost always in the partitive:

puhun suomea = I speak Finnish
puhutko englantia? = do you speak English?
hän puhuu ranskaa = he/she speaks French

This pattern stays when we turn the verb phrase into a noun phrase:

puhua suomea → suomea puhuminen
(lit. “the speaking Finnish”)

So:

suomea puhuminen = speaking Finnish (as an activity)
suomi puhuminen – not natural
suomen puhuminen – possible, but see next question

What’s the difference between suomea puhuminen and suomen puhuminen?

Both can be understood, but they are built differently:

suomea puhuminen
- Keeps suomea as the object of “puhuminen”, just like in puhua suomea.
- Very natural and common.
- Focus: the activity of speaking Finnish.
suomen puhuminen
- Here suomen is genitive, so it’s more like “the speaking of Finnish”.
- Also correct, but sounds a bit more abstract or formal in many contexts.

In everyday language, suomea puhuminen is usually more idiomatic when you’re talking about the activity/habit of speaking Finnish (as in your sentence).

Why is it puhuminen and not puhua?

Puhuminen is a noun formed from the verb puhua:

puhua = (to) speak
puhuminen = speaking, the act of speaking

Finnish often uses these -minen nouns (called teonnimi, “action nouns”) where English uses an -ing form or a to-verb as a subject:

Juokseminen on raskasta. = Running is tiring.
Lukeminen on kivaa. = Reading is nice.
Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa. = Speaking Finnish is fun.

If you used puhua directly as a subject (*suomea puhua on hauskaa), it would be ungrammatical. For subject or object roles, you usually need the -minen form.

Could I say Minusta on hauskaa puhua suomea instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, that is also correct, and very natural:

Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.
Minusta on hauskaa puhua suomea.

Both mean something like “I think speaking Finnish is fun.”

Nuance:

Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.
- Makes “speaking Finnish” clearly the subject of the sentence.
- Slightly more “noun-like” / abstract: the activity in general.
Minusta on hauskaa puhua suomea.
- Focuses more directly on my feeling when I do it.
- Closer to: “I find it fun to speak Finnish.”

In everyday speech, Minusta on hauskaa puhua suomea is probably more common, but both are good Finnish.

Why is hauskaa in the partitive (-a) and not hauska?

Hauskaa is the partitive singular of hauska (“fun”).

With -minen nouns (like puhuminen, juokseminen, lukeminen) used as subjects that denote an activity in general, Finnish very often puts the adjective in partitive:

Juokseminen on raskasta. = Running is tiring.
Lukeminen on kivaa. = Reading is nice.
Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa. = Speaking Finnish is fun.

This use of the partitive reflects that we’re talking about an indefinite, ongoing activity, not one specific, completed event.

In many of these sentences, nominative would sound strange or wrong:

✗ *Suomea puhuminen on hauska. – ungrammatical / very odd
✓ Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa. – correct

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa minusta?

Word order is relatively flexible in Finnish, but it affects emphasis and naturalness.

Possible variants:

Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.
– Very natural; neutral emphasis on speaking Finnish is fun (to me).
Suomea puhuminen on minusta hauskaa.
– Also natural; main point is “speaking Finnish is fun”, with minusta added as “to me”.
Suomea puhuminen minusta on hauskaa.
– Possible, but the position of minusta feels a bit marked; not the most typical choice.
Minusta on hauskaa puhua suomea.
– Very common alternative phrasing.

So Suomea puhuminen on minusta hauskaa is better than … on hauskaa minusta. Putting minusta right at the end is less typical.

Can minusta also mean literally “from me” in other sentences?

Yes. Grammatically it is the same form (elative of minä), but the meaning depends on the context.

Two uses:

Opinion / feeling (as in your sentence)
- Minusta tämä on hyvä idea.
  = In my opinion this is a good idea.
Literal “from me”
- Otatko tämän minusta?
  = Are you taking this from me? (e.g. someone taking a book from your hands)

Usually context makes it clear whether minusta is “in my opinion” or literally “from me”.

Could I drop Minusta and just say Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa?

Yes, you can:

Suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.

Then it sounds more like a general statement:

“Speaking Finnish is fun.” (in general, not specifically just for me)

With Minusta, it’s clear that you’re expressing your personal opinion:

Minusta suomea puhuminen on hauskaa.
= I (personally) think that speaking Finnish is fun.

Should suomea be capitalized, like “Finnish” in English?

No. In Finnish:

Language names are not capitalized:
- suomi, englanti, saksa, ranska, venäjä, jne.
Nationality words are also not capitalized:
- suomalainen, englantilainen, venäläinen, jne.

So:

suomi (Finnish) – lower case
suomea puhuminen – all lower case

This is different from English, where you write Finnish, English, German, etc. with a capital letter.

How would I negate this sentence correctly?

To negate it, you add ei and change on to the negative form ole:

Minusta suomea puhuminen ei ole hauskaa.
= In my opinion, speaking Finnish is not fun.

Notice that the cases stay the same:

suomea (partitive) stays partitive
puhuminen stays the same
hauskaa stays partitive

So only on → ei ole, and the meaning flips to the negative.